EditorsNote: update 2: rewords second graf
The Arizona Diamondbacks scored 12 runs in the first two innings and tied their team record with 21 hits as they pounded the Texas Rangers with five home runs in a 19-4 victory Wednesday night in Arlington, Texas.
Eduardo Escobar drove in five runs and homered from both sides of the plate, including a two-run blast from the left side in a seven-run first inning that Arizona chased Texas starter Jesse Chavez (3-5). Escobar connected from the right side in the sixth, a three-run shot that was good for a 17-3 lead.
Christian Walker reached base six times in seven at-bats -- two hits, three walks and a hit by pitch.
The 12 runs were the most Arizona had ever scored through the first two innings of a game.
Kevin Cron, Jarrod Dyson and Carson Kelly also homered for Arizona, which batted around in the first inning.
Kelly's homer came in the ninth against catcher Tim Federowicz, a 31-year-old making his pitching debut. The eight-year veteran gave up the one run and three hits.
Arizona fell one short of its team record for runs in a game while tying the mark for hits, last accomplished May 24 at San Francisco.
Adam Jones went 4-for-6 with a walk. Dyson had three hits but left the game in the middle of the sixth because of a right hamstring cramp.
The Rangers' Danny Santana homered twice and drove in three runs.
Arizona had seven hits in the first inning to knock out Chavez, who managed to get two outs in 35 pitches. He was charged with all seven runs after reliever Adrian Sampson gave up an RBI double to Ketel Marte.
Sampson yielded five runs in the second inning, when Cron hit a 453-foot, three-run homer to center.
Santana and Logan Forsythe hit back-to-back homers to account for three runs off Robbie Ray (8-6) in the bottom of the second. Arizona answered with two more runs in the third.
Ray allowed four runs on six hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking one.
Marte, who went 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch, left the game after the top of the second inning. The team announced he was pulled because manager Torey Lovullo wanted to give the first-time All-Star the rest of the night off.
--Field Level Media
