Rangers' Adolis Garcia has 3 HRs, 8 RBIs in five innings vs. A's

ARLINGTON, Texas — Adolis Garcia was in the on-deck circle with three home runs and one more good chance to try for a fourth while Josh Sborz was making a rare plate appearance for a Texas pitcher.

«Yeah, he had orders not to swing the bat,» Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of the right-handed reliever.

Sborz followed those orders, taking three strikes on four 55-plus mph sliders from Oakland infielder Jace Peterson with the Rangers on their way to an 18-3 victory Saturday night.

Garcia's second chance at his fourth homer ended the same way as the first: a double. The first two-bagger — in the seventh inning — drove in two runs, just as all three homers had.

The 30-year-old slugger from Cuba finished with a career-high eight RBI to go with his first three-homer game. He has seven homers and 28 RBI this season.

Garcia launched two-run shots in the first, third and fifth — all at least 400 feet — as the Rangers built a 13-2 lead. The two-run double in the seventh made it 15-2.

Garcia's 432-foot drive into the second deck in left field came in the first inning of Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami's fourth career start for Oakland.

After the first homer, Garcia was hit on the left arm by the first pitch from Fujinami in the second inning, a 97 mph fastball. Plate umpire Jordan Baker quickly stepped in front of Garcia, who appeared upset but walked to first base without any words exchanged with the pitcher.

Garcia cleared the center-field wall on a 419-foot drive off reliever Adrian Martinez in the third. Texas' cleanup hitter went deep off Martinez again in the fifth, 401 feet into the Oakland bullpen in left-center.

It was the first three-homer game for Garcia and the first for the Rangers since Ronald Guzman