ARLINGTON, Texas — Lonnie Chisenhall had nine RBIs and three home runs in a five-hit game, Michael Brantley scored five times and the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 17-7 Monday night.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Lonnie Chisenhall had nine RBIs and three home runs in a five-hit game, Michael Brantley scored five times and the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 17-7 Monday night.
The only other nine-RBI game in Cleveland history was by Chris James in a 20-6 victory for the Indians on May 4, 1991, against Oakland.
Chisenhall had two-run homers in the second and fourth innings before hitting a three-run shot down the right field line in the eighth to give the Indians a 17-6 lead.
The offensive outburst puts Chisenhall in rare company. He is only the fourth major league player since RBIs became a statistic in 1920 to have at least five hits, nine RBIs and three homers in a game, and he is the first since Boston’s Fred Lynn did it in 1975, according to the Indians.
The Indians won three straight in the four-game set after coming to the Lone Star State with the worst road record in the majors.
The Rangers are winless in their past seven series at home, where they dropped to 15-18 for the season.
Chisenhall had the first three-homer game for the Indians since Sept. 17, 2010, by Shin-Soo Choo, who now plays for the Rangers. The left-handed hitter had an RBI single in the first and a run-scoring double in the sixth.
The homers and RBIs were career highs for Chisenhall. He had five hits earlier this season at Toronto.
Cleveland hit five homers, won for the ninth time in 10 games and pulled within two games of Detroit just three weeks after trailing by 10 1/2.
Texas right-hander Nick Martinez (1-3) gave up eight runs in two innings in a matchup of rookie starters. Cleveland left-hander T.J. House didn’t make it to the fifth inning and missed a chance for his first major league win despite taking a 9-1 lead into the third.
Scott Atchison (3-0) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings.
Chisenhall, who had the second multihomer game of his career, finished the series 10 for 17 with four homers and 13 RBIs.
Brantley tied his career high with his 10th home run for a 10-4 lead in the fourth and reached base all five times. George Kottaras had the other Cleveland homer, his third.
Texas’ Alex Rios, who went 2 for 4 and is the AL’s top hitter at .335, had his league-leading eighth triple, driving home Adrian Beltre in the third. Michael Choice hit his third homer in the past five games, giving him six for the season.
Jason Kipnis had three singles and four RBIs for the Indians, including a two-run single in a five-run second inning.
WHITE SOX 6, TIGERS 5
CHICAGO — Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer in Chicago’s three-run fifth inning, and the White Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Gordon Beckham had three hits as Chicago bounced back from a sluggish trip to Southern California. The White Sox took two of three from the Dodgers before getting swept in a weekend series against the Angels.
Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Eugenio Suarez homered for AL Central-leading Detroit, which has dropped seven of nine. Cabrera went 2 for 4 while serving as the designated hitter after leaving Sunday night’s 5-3 loss to Boston with left hamstring tightness.
Martinez’s two-run shot off Hector Noesi (2-4) trimmed Chicago’s lead to 5-4 with one out in the sixth. J.D. Martinez doubled, but Noesi struck out Nick Castellanos. After Austin Jackson walked, Scott Downs retired Alex Avila on an inning-ending grounder.
The White Sox got a big run in the bottom half on Adam Eaton’s RBI single and held on to win the opener of a nine-game homestand. Ronald Belisario worked a shaky ninth for his sixth save.
Avila hit an RBI double off Belisario before the right-hander retired Suarez on a deep fly to center. Pinch-runner Rajai Davis advanced to third on the play, but Belisario struck out Ian Kinsler and got pinch-hitter Torii Hunter to ground to third for the final out.
Rick Porcello (8-4) struggled through five-plus innings for Detroit, allowing six runs and nine hits. He also committed a costly throwing error that set up Eaton’s run-scoring hit.
Porcello was 9-1 with a 2.35 ERA in his previous 12 starts against the White Sox. The 25-year-old right-hander went 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in three starts at U.S. Cellular Field last season.
DODGERS, 6, REDS 2
CINCINNATI — Another tough game for Tony Cingrani has the Cincinnati Reds wondering what to do with the only left-hander in their rotation.
Scott Van Slyke drove in a career-high four runs with two homers off Cingrani, and the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled away to a 6-2 victory over the Reds, a rare comfortable win in their pitching-dominated series.
Van Slyke hit a solo homer and a three-run shot off Cingrani (2-7), who could lose his spot in the rotation when Mat Latos returns from the disabled list later this week. Cingrani gave up a career-high six runs in 4 2-3 innings of his fifth straight loss.
The Reds could move Cingrani into the bullpen or send him back to Triple-A to get his game back in shape.
“It’s a tough thing,” manager Bryan Price said. “When we add Mat, we’ll have 13 major league pitchers for 12 spots. That’s not to say Cingrani won’t be part of the process.
“We’ll be making a very difficult decision. We’ve been discussing things, and we’ll be coming up with a decision in the next few days.”
Dan Haren (6-4) gave up five hits in 5 1-3 innings, including Ryan Ludwick’s solo homer, for his first win since May 12. Brandon League escaped a bases-loaded, no-outs threat in the eighth by getting Ludwick to hit a comebacker that led to a home-to-first double play.
The Dodgers have gone 3-1 at the start of their seven-game trip to Colorado and Cincinnati despite hip injuries to right fielder Yasiel Puig and second baseman Dee Gordon. Puig was back in the lineup on Monday and had a single and a walk. Gordon pinch hit in the ninth and beat out an infield single.
The Dodgers and Reds have played a lot of close games the last two seasons. Six of their last seven had been decided by one run, with Cincinnati holding a 4-3 advantage in those games.
Van Slyke made this a comfortable win for the Dodgers, getting a career-high three hits. In addition to the homers, he singled and walked twice, reaching base in all five plate appearances.
BRAVES 3, ROCKIES 1
DENVER — Gavin Floyd pitched effectively into the seventh inning for his first win since returning last month from reconstructive surgery on his right elbow, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Colorado Rockies 3-1.
Floyd, who was limited to five starts last season while with the Chicago White Sox before undergoing Tommy John surgery, allowed one run and three hits in 6 2-3 innings in picking up his first victory since beating Cleveland on Oct. 3, 2012. Signed by Atlanta as a free agent last December, Floyd (1-2) snapped a career-long six-game losing streaking dating to April 2013.
Chris Johnson had three hits, including two RBI singles, to help the Braves beat the Rockies for the 15th time in 18 games since 2012. Evan Gattis had an RBI groundout and singled to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games.
Craig Kimbrel got three outs for his 17th save in 20 chances.
Christian Bergman, called up earlier Monday from Triple-A Colorado Springs to fill in for the injured Jordan Lyles (broken left hand), allowed two runs and five hits in six innings in his major league debut. Originally a 24th-round draft pick out of the University of California Irvine in 2010, Bergman (0-1) struck out four and walked two in a solid outing that included singling in the third for his first major league hit.
The Braves got to him for their first two runs in the fourth with B.J. Upton beating out a slow roller toward third base leading off the inning for Atlanta’s first hit.