The Texas Rangers' offense needed a boost and a good start to what is without question their biggest week of the season as the regular season comes to an end on Sunday afternoon.
The Rangers are clawing trying to get into one of the two AL Wild Card slots, and they've been plagued all season by a subpar offense, but on Monday night, they got the bats going led by their newest acquisition.
Alex Rios went 4-for-4 and completed the cycle with his sixth-inning RBI triple as the Rangers rolled to a 12-0 win over the lowly Houston Astros, improving their season mark against the Stros to 15-2. Now, it should be noted, this was the Astros, but that's who the Rangers play for the next two nights in a situation where they pretty much have to win at least five of their last six games to have a shot at the postseason.
Rios finished the night with three runs and four RBIs before being lifted for Engel Beltre in the eighth inning, but not before he got a standing ovation from the crowd at Rangers Ballpark as he took his place in right field for the top of the seventh.
"I had goose bumps when I was running to right field, so it felt great," Rios told ESPNDallas.com.
It also had to feel great for the Rangers and their previously slumping bats, and if the Rangers can go on an offensive tear here, a lot of it will be owed to Rios' big night.
