16-16 - All Smyles as Texas trounces Toronto 10-2

Five games against the Pirates and Blue Jays signals the end of this week’s homestand for Texas. It was a brief ‘stand but it kind of looked a lot like the Rangers’ recent road trip where Texas lost the first five games but then outscored Seattle 29-2 to close things out last weekend.

This week, the Rangers lost the first three games before beating Toronto 8-5 last night and leaving no doubt today with a 10-2 victory. It’s been a very up-and-down season for the Rangers and that’s reflected in their now 16-16 record.

Though the ordering of the wins made for an ugly start to the week, the Rangers can say that they head into Monday on the heels of a series victory.

Player of the Game: The Rangers had contributions up and down the lineup, and even got a positive start from a returning Drew Smyly, but perhaps the most important thing that happened on Sunday was Rougned Odor broke out of his nearly season-long slump with a solid day at the plate.

Odor hit a two-run dinger on a two-strike pitch off Jays’ starter Clay Buchholz in his first at-bat on the day and followed that up with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Coming into the day, Odor had a sub-.400 OPS so it was nice to see him get some results for all the work he’s been putting in behind the scenes.

Up Next: The Rangers travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates on Tuesday night for some dreaded National League action. Adrian Sampson will take the mound for Texas against lefty Steven Brault. First pitch from PNC Park is scheduled for 6:05 pm CT.