Semien's 4-hit day, Texas' 10-run 2nd key rout

OAKLAND -- From the very pitch on Tuesday afternoon, the Rangers had the upper hand.

Marcus Semien drove a first-pitch fastball from Ross Stripling 401 feet over the left-center-field wall for a leadoff homer, his third of the season and the 27th of his career, kicking off an offensive outburst as Texas blew out the A’s, 15-8, at the Coliseum.

The former A’s shortstop (2015-20) and Bay Area native collected four hits in the first four innings, becoming the first Ranger to accomplish the feat since Ian Kinsler on April 15, 2009, against the Orioles. Only two other Rangers have done so at all since 1974: Michael Young (April 21, 2006, vs. the Rays) and Danny Thompson (June 4, 1976, vs. the Tigers).

Semien ultimately finished a triple shy of the cycle, with a homer, a double and two singles. The last Ranger to hit for the cycle was Carlos Gomez on April 29, 2017, against the Angels.

“I mean, it could be 1-0 pretty quick [with Semien leading off],” said catcher Jonah Heim, who also collected four hits on Tuesday. “So when he steps up there, you know he's gonna put together a good at-bat, hit the ball hard and get the line moving. And we saw today that 1-0 turned into, I think, 11-0 quick, so it’s a pretty good start.”

Coming off a win in the first game of the series in which the Rangers didn’t score until the eighth inning, they scored early and often on Tuesday.

The Rangers’ big day was driven by a second inning in which they scored 10 runs on nine hits, both of which were season highs. The club's last 10-run inning came on May 23, 2015, at Yankee Stadium, when the offense collected a 10-run third inning.

“I think we were just building off of what we did last night,” Semien said. “It took us a while to get going. I feel like momentum is a real thing. We came out, obviously, slow yesterday, so it's good to start off like that today.”

Texas sent 16 batters to the plate in the inning, and three different players recorded two hits (Semien, Heim and Leody Taveras). Of Texas' nine hits in the frame, eight were singles and one was a double (Semien), marking just the second time in franchise history (since at least 1974) the Rangers plated at least 10 runs in an inning featuring one or zero extra-base hits. The previous time was Aug. 19, 2023, against Houston (six singles and one double).

The Rangers' eight- and nine-hole hitters, Heim and Taveras, combined for 7-for-9 with four RBIs and six runs scored on the day.

“It’s fun for me to come up in those situations as a leadoff hitter,” Semien said after collecting a game-high five RBIs. “Sometimes you don't always have that luxury, but it’s something I look forward to, especially after last night and not coming through. So it's nice to get those opportunities.”

The Rangers collected 19 total hits, becoming the first MLB team this season with five games of 15-or-more hits as they also matched their season high with 15 runs.

Manager Bruce Bochy emphasized how nice it was to see the club win these two games against the A’s in completely different fashions -- on Monday by scrapping for the first seven innings before taking the lead in the eighth, and on Tuesday with a dramatic offensive outburst in which they scored early and often.

“It’s good to break out,” said Bochy. “We had a lot of good things going on there. We put [the ball] in play. Some balls weren't hit hard, and they found holes, the BABIP, as they say. We put the ball in play and it worked for us. We had some really big hits, too. I mean, get a look at Marcus with his day. He’s the one that really got things going and ignited us. But really throughout the lineup, [everybody] did something to score. It's always good to have a lead to work with.”

After moving to .500 once again last homestand, Texas has gone on a run throughout this nine-game, 10-day road trip, moving to a season-high five games over .500 as the club goes for a series win with a doubleheader in Oakland on Wednesday.

“They're fighting hard, so that's one common denominator right now,” Bochy said.