ARLINGTON -- Adolis García strutted out of the batter’s box, banging his chest and pointing toward the dugout before taking off and rounding the bases for his first of two home runs on the day.
He pointed toward Rangers starting pitcher Martín Pérez, who he talked to between innings. Pérez had just given up the lone Red Sox run of the day, an RBI double from Rafael Devers in the fifth inning, before Kole Calhoun tied it up immediately.
García, who had just made a leaping catch at the center-field wall to potentially save another run, told Pérez to pay close attention when he came back up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
“I told him I was winning that game for him,” García said through interpreter Raul Cardenas.
García made good on his promise, launching a three-run, 413-foot home run to the opposite field to break the 1-1 tie and power the Rangers to a 7-1 win over the Red Sox.
“Adolis told me before the at-bat, ‘I made that [defensive] play [in the top of the sixth] for you, I’m going to hit for you,” Pérez said. “So as soon as he hit the ball, he was pointing at me and it was great.”
García would add a couple insurance runs in the eighth inning, launching a two-run shot into the Rangers’ bullpen for his second of the day. It was his fourth career multi-homer game and his first this season. He also tied his career high with five RBIs on the day.
This comes after García got an off-day on Saturday to talk to the hitting coaches and regroup following a slower start to the season than he would have hoped. Rangers manager Chris Woodward said it was a good “mental day” for the outfielder and it allowed him to rest and be prepared coming into the series finale.
“We know how special he is,” Woodward said. “One thing I told him was what he did today is exactly what we've seen him do so many times. He literally raises the roof off the building with the way he plays the game. Our main message was to just go back to being dynamic, especially in the batter's box. Go up there and swing with some intent and look to do damage. Hopefully this is the beginning of a really good stretch for him.”
Calhoun also hit two homers of his own in the win, the first of which was a game-tying solo shot in the fifth inning.
The second of Calhoun’s homers came during the Rangers’ four-run sixth inning, when he followed García's three-run homer with a back-to-back shot to give Texas a four-run lead. It was the second time this season the Rangers have hit back-to-back homers.
Calhoun and García also became the second and third Rangers with a multi-homer game this season, joining Corey Seager, who tallied one of his own on May 10. It was the first time Texas had two individual multi-homer performances in the same game since Joey Gallo and Robinson Chirinos on April 21, 2017, against the Royals.
Calhoun extended his hit streak to five games in his eighth career multi-homer game and his first since Sept. 18, 2020, when he was a member of the D-backs.
After a slow start to the season, Calhoun has hit his stride in the last week. In April, he slashed .164/.193/.182 over 20 games. In 11 games during the month of May, the outfielder has slashed .306/.342/.639 with all three of his home runs and eight RBIs.
Calhoun emphasized just how dangerous the Rangers’ offense can be when players up and down the lineup are hitting on all cylinders. He added that García is an important part of that, calling him one of the most talented ballplayers he’s ever been around following the multi-homer performance from the two of them.
“It's important that he knows that and he can carry this team single-handedly for an extended amount of time,” Calhoun said. “For him to be as humble as he is and work as hard as he does and have that kind of talent, that's the makeup of a special, special player. A generational-type player. He can have a very, very fantastic career if he sticks to it and really believes that he's a superstar. That guy is a superstar.”