CHICAGO (AP) — Corey Seager had three hits and three RBIs, and Jake Burger and Wyatt Langford homered to lead the Texas Rangers to an 11-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
Ezequiel Duran drove in two runs and Texas (66-66) outhit the AL Central leaders 14-5 to move a half-game ahead of idle Houston and take sole possession of first place in the AL West for the first time since July 30.
Kumar Rocker (5-10) pitched 5 2/3 innings for
the win, allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. Robby Ahlstrom retired all four batters he faced and Jordan Montgomery finished with two perfect innings.
Joc Pederson drew a walk from José Urquidy (2-2) to start the game before scoring on Duran's groundout. Evan Carter added a two-out RBI double for a 2-0 lead.
Brandon Nimmo robbed Andrew Benintendi of a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to keep it 2-0.
Duran's two-out infield hit with the bases loaded made it 3-0 in the second. Pederson was ejected by plate umpire Chris Guccione for comments from the dugout before Carter's groundout ended the inning. Pederson — mired in an 0-for-24 slump — struck out looking and was too late trying to challenge the call to start the inning.
Tristan Peters homered for a third straight game and the 10th time this season — a two-out shot in the second off Rocker that cut it to 3-2.
Seager drove in two with a two-out double in the third for a 5-2 advantage.
Burger hit his 22nd homer leading off the fifth. Justin Foscue — who replaced Pederson — and Seager had back-to-back doubles with two outs for a 7-2 lead.
Burger added an RBI double in the sixth, Duran scored on a wild pitch in the eighth and Langford hit his 15th homer — a two-run shot off Trevor Richards — in the ninth for the final margin.
Urquidy allowed five runs and six hits with four walks over three innings.
Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom (9-8. 3.77 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite White Sox LHP Anthony Kay (9-6, 3.96).
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