3 key plays lift Texas behind lights-out Lynn

Texas starter Lance Lynn locked horns with Oakland right-hander Frankie Montas in a pitching duel for five innings on Sunday afternoon. Then three big plays went the Rangers' way late and they pulled out a 6-3 victory over the Athletics at Globe Life Field.

The Rangers hit three home runs in a game for the first time at Globe Life Field and Lynn earned the win by holding the Athletics to one run in seven innings. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out a season-high 10 batters to improve to 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA in his last five starts against the Athletics.

• Box score

“They score runs off me and they put good at-bats on me,” Lynn said. “It’s just one of those things, when they do square up a ball, it has a tendency to go at people as of late. I hope that stays the same. They are a good team. They have a deep lineup. They make you work for things, and today, I was able to kind of counter what they were doing early and get through seven.”

The three big plays:

Odor goes deep
Lynn gave up one run in the first, but Derek Dietrich’s home run tied it in the second -- and that’s where things stood into the bottom of the sixth.

Montas retired Leody Taveras on a grounder before Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Nick Solak hit back-to-back singles. That put runners on the corners for Odor, who jumped on a first-pitch fastball and hit it into the right-center-field bleachers to give Texas a 4-1 lead.

Odor came into the game with a .333 slugging percentage and was batting cleanup only because Joey Gallo was resting a sore hamstring muscle. This was Odor’s fifth game back since being activated off the injured list.

Odor, who had been sidelined with an infection in his right eye, was supposed to get limited playing time upon his return. But he has played in five of the last six games, during which he's driven in 10 runs -- and he's hit home runs in each of his last three games.

“I challenged [Odor] to force me to play him, and if he keeps hitting three-run homers, I think he's gonna force me to play him,” manager Chris Woodward said. “Obviously, I want to see the production in the other at-bats, as well, but he's had some huge hits for us, there's no question, for the last three days.”

Kiner-Falefa’s dazzling play
Woodward continues to tout Kiner-Falefa as a Gold Glove Award candidate at third base, and the play Kiner-Falefa made in the seventh inning provided the latest evidence.

Lynn ran into trouble when he gave up one-out singles to Robbie Grossman and Mark Canha. At that point, the Rangers had left-hander Brett Martin warming up in the bullpen, but Lynn came back to strike out Ramon Laureano before Kiner-Falefa made a diving catch to his left on Jonah Heim’s line drive to end the threat.

“If that sneaks through, [Lynn’s] potentially out of the game,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “They bring in a lefty and we’ve got some matchups we can play. That was a key play in the game.”

Mathis swings away
Right-hander Lee Trivino came in to pitch the seventh for Oakland and walked Eli White to start the inning. That brought up Jeff Mathis, the Rangers' No. 9 hitter who had already struck out twice. It appeared to be a bunting situation, but Woodward decided against it.

“I knew he was going to hit a home run,” Woodward said after the game.

Woodward was kidding -- but Mathis did exactly that. He worked the count full, then hit one out to left, a two-run home run that gave the Rangers a 6-1 lead.

But seriously ... no bunt?

“It was a chance for Eli, with his speed, to steal second, and we thought with Trivino, the opportunity would present itself,” Woodward said. “I didn’t feel the need to bunt at that point. Hindsight is 20-20. ... It worked out. [Bunting] crossed my mind.”