Sanchez, Marlins hammer Rangers

MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Sánchez hit a three-run homer and doubled twice to help the Miami Marlins beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 on Friday night.

Sánchez homered off reliever Jesus Tinoco, who had given up consecutive one-out singles before Sánchez lifted his seventh pitch of the at-bat 417 feet to center to put Miami ahead 7-2 in the seventh.

“Sánchez, there are some guys that are getting hits, and for some guys, they're loud," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. "And his are loud right now. ... The guy can hit the ball as hard as anybody in the big leagues.”

The win gave the Marlins a 14-13 record in the month of May — their first winning month since going 17-10 in September of last year. Meanwhile, the World Series-champion Rangers (27-30) fell three games below .500 for the second time this month.

“I think we're a team that can hit,” said Sánchez, who had his second-straight multi-hit game. “We're a team that can get offensive results, and you're seeing that. I think we also have the capability of winning a lot of games.”

It's a stark turnaround from how the Marlins started the season. They lost their first nine games in the worst start to a season in the club's 33-year history.

“We could have gone downhill pretty quick after a rough start," said Schumaker, last year's NL manager of the year. "It could have just spiraled into something that none of us wanted to be a part of. There could have been some blaming, some finger pointing, some whatever. You want to talk about different narratives, they came out every day and played as hard as they could, and I'm really proud of that.”

Nick Gordon opened scoring in the second with a two-run homer off Rangers starter José Ureña (1-5), scoring Sánchez, who led off the inning with a double.

Ureña, making his first career start against his former team, was lifted just 2 1/3 innings into the game after allowing four hits, four runs — two of which were earned — walking two and striking out one. Ureña began his big league career with the Marlins from 2015-20 and was Miami’s Opening Day starter in 2018 and 2019.

“José was a little off with his command,” said Texas manager Bruce Bochy. “He's been throwing the ball well. It was pretty obvious — He was missing some spots, got some balls down the middle, some walks. That's why I went and got him. ... And offensively we just didn't do much.”

Josh Smith homered for the Rangers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Leody Taveras scored Texas' other run on an RBI groundout by Wyatt Langford.

Marlins starter Sixto Sánchez pitched four innings, allowing four hits, two runs and a walk. He was chased after giving up consecutive hits in the fifth. Declan Cronin (1-2) replaced him with two on and got three outs for the win.

Corey Seager went 1 for 4 and extended his hitting streak to 13 straight games, which is the longest in his three seasons with Texas. He has also reached base in 23 consecutive games.

Marcus Semien was back in the Rangers' lineup after ending his run of 349 consecutive games when he didn’t play Wednesday against Arizona because of soreness from a collision in the outfield with right fielder Adolis García on May 18.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Marlins: Recalled RHP Huascar Brazobán from Triple-A Jacksonville and optioned RHP Emmanuel Ramírez optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville.

UP NEXT

RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 3.35) will start the middle game of the series for Texas against Marlins LHP Ryan Weathers (3-4, 3.16)

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb