Hunter Greene allowed one hit over seven shutout innings and Jonathan India went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs to lead the Cincinnati Reds to an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
It was the first win in six starts this season for Greene (1-2) who walked one and struck out six. Will Benson also homered and had two hits for Cincinnati, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Davis Wendzel hit his first major league home run, Josh Smith had two doubles and an RBI and Corey Seager also homered for Texas. Michael Lorenzen (2-1) suffered the loss allowing five runs on six hits over six-plus innings. He walked one, struck out three and also hit a pair of batters.
Cincinnati took advantage of Lorenzen’s wildness in taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Christian Encarnacion-Strand was hit by a pitch to start the inning and went to second on a walk by Jake Fraley. After Tyler Stephenson singled to load the bases with no outs, India singled to drive in Encarnacion-Strand. Nick Martini then drove in Fraley with a sacrifice fly.
The Reds extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth when Encarnacion-Strand led off with an infield single, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a single by India.
Cincinnati broke the game open with a pair of two-run homers in the seventh. India got the first, a 341-foot opposite-field drive down the right-field line to drive in Stephenson, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Benson then made it 7-0 with his fourth homer of the season off reliever Jose Urena, driving in Martini, who had singled.
Martini extended the lead to 8-0 in the eighth with a sacrifice fly, driving in Luke Maile, who had singled and advanced to third on a single by India.
Texas, which had just one hit — a Smith double to open the fifth — in the first eight innings, made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. The Rangers scored four runs on six hits, including back-to-back homers by Wendzel and Seager and an RBI double by Smith, against reliever Brent Suter.
Closer Alexis Diaz had to be summoned to get the final two outs for his sixth save.
–Field Level Media
