Carlos Gomez Hits Three-Run Homer, Rangers Rally For 8-5 Home Win Over Brewers

Carlos Gomez crushed a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning to lead the Texas Rangers to an 8-5 home victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

Carlos Gomez Hits Three-Run Homer, Rangers Rally For 8-5 Home Win Over Brewers

Texas (94-65), with their 49th come-from-behind victory of the season, now hold a  1 1/2-game lead over Boston for the best record in the American League. The Rangers can earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason by winning two of three against the Rays in the final series of the regular season.

“I saw that pitch good and I didn’t have to do too much,” said Gomez, who finished 3-for-4. “I threw my hands out there and hit it good. It was big for us.”

According to Statcast, Gomez’s homer traveled 444 feet. The ball landed in the first row of the upper deck of Globe Life Park. Thus, Gomez’s teammates, Adrian Beltre and Joey Gallo looked completely amazed in the dugout.

Jeremy Jeffress, with two scoreless innings, got the win in relief of Texas starter Cole Hamels. The game marked the 41st relief victory of the season for the Rangers, who tied a Major League record set by the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers.

The hosts trailed, 5-4, heading into the bottom of the eight, although Jonathan Lucroy reached with one out when substitute center fielder Hernan Perez misplayed the line drive for a two-base error.

After Delino DeShields came in as a pinch-runner for Lucroy, reliever Corey Knebel walked Mitch Moreland and struck out Nomar Mazara. 

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell then brought in right-hander Tyler Thornburg, and Elvis Andrus tied it with a single up the middle. Then came Gomez’s big home run.

“He’s one of those guys who when he locks in, he always does pretty well in a series,” said Thornburg, who played parts of four seasons with Gomez in Milwaukee. “I feel like he definitely wanted to lock in against us, and he ended up doing pretty well.”

Perez’s error was not the Brewers’ only defensive one. In the first inning, second baseman Jonathan Villar lost a popup and it dropped safely, thus leading to a three-run Rangers rally.

“Overall, we didn’t convert enough outs tonight,” Counsell said. “Against a lineup like that, it gave them a couple more chances and eventually they made us pay.”

Hamels recorded his 200th strikeout of the year by getting Orlando Arcia to go down swinging to end the sixth. Then in the seventh, Hamels got Martin Maldonado to ground out to lead off the frame, reaching 200 innings pitched. The lefty has tossed at least 200 innings for the last seven seasons.

After Yadiel Rivera singled with none out in the second, a throwing error by Rangers center fielder Ian Desmond allowed Maldonado to score and Rivera to get to third. Villar followed with a shallow pop fly to Rougned Odor in foul territory down the right-field line. With Odor’s back to home, Rivera tagged and scored with a headfirst slide, just around Lucroy’s tag for a 4-3 lead that became 5-3 an inning later.

“Nice night for Rougned,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “He is going to hit and the swing is there. He’s one of our main guys so there is some feel good there.”

After an off-day on Thursday, lefty Brent Suter will make his second start for the Brewers Friday night in the first of a three-game road series against the Colorado Rockies. Suter has thrown 12 1/3 scoreless innings in relief since making his Major League debut as a starter on Aug. 19.

The Rangers will also enjoy an off-day on Thursday. Right-hander Yu Darvish will start Friday when the Rangers host the Rays in the first of a three-game series. Darvish’s 101 strikeouts since the All-Star break are fourth most in the American League and fifth most in the Majors.

ARLINGTON, TX – SEPTEMBER 28: Carlos Gomez #14 of the Texas Rangers is soaked with Powerade after hitting a three run home run off of Tyler Thornburg #37 of the Milwaukee Brewers in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Brewers 8-5 at Globe Life Park in Arlington on September 28, 2016 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)