Robinson Chirinos made incredible strides as a defensive presence behind the plate for the Texas Rangers last year, enough so that was he was given the starting catcher job from Day 1, like before the Rangers even reported to Arizona for spring training.
Last year, he showed some nice pop from time to time, but on Tuesday night his bat spoke loudly and his career night was enough to lift the Rangers to an 8-2 win over the Angels.
Chirinos, hitting ninth, hit a two-run double in the bottom of the second inning and then mashed a three-run homer in the sixth to give him five RBIs on the night.
He got off to a slow start — as several Rangers have this season — but he broke out in a big way, as did his teammates as every starter had a hit on Tuesday night except for Adrian Beltre.
Chirinos, like any good catcher, deflected his own big night to put more attention on young starter Nick Martinez's, after the righty had his second straight quality start and win in as many outings.
"If you have a win, no matter how you do, that's a victory for everybody," Chirinos told reporters.