Power surge backs Jack Leiter’s gem as Rangers pound Guardians

Cody Freeman, Josh Jung and Adolis Garcia hit home runs and starter Jack Leiter had his best outing of the season as the Texas Rangers swamped the swooning Cleveland Guardians 10-0 on Saturday in the second of a three-game series in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers have taken the first two games of this series between wild-card hopefuls, doing so in definitive fashion Saturday thanks to a power surge and seven scoreless innings of pitching from Leiter, their rookie right-hander.
Leiter (8-7) allowed just two hits — singles by Gabriel Arias and Kyle Manzardo in the third and fourth innings, respectively — and didn’t walk a batter while striking out 10. No Cleveland batter reached second base until the ninth inning and the Guardians finished with three hits.
Wyatt Langford, Jung and Freeman led Texas’ attack with two hits apiece.
Cleveland has dropped four straight games and seven of its past eight.
The Rangers drew first blood in the second inning when Freeman’s one-out, two-run homer to left field plated Josh Jung, who had walked to open the frame.
Texas expanded the lead to 5-0 in the third. Langford doubled to start the frame and moved to third on a flyout. Corey Seager walked and Kyle Higashioka beat out a double-play grounder as Langford scored. Jung then ripped a two-run home run over the left center field wall.
The Rangers pushed their advantage to 7-0 in the fourth as Ezequiel Duran doubled home Freeman and Jonah Heim, who both reached on singles. A two-run home run in the fifth by Garcia, who was activated from the injured list prior to the game, plated Jung and stoked the lead to 9-0.
Duran drove home the Rangers’ final run with a groundout in the sixth.
Earlier on Saturday, the Rangers placed second baseman Marcus Semien on the 10-day injured list with a left foot contusion he suffered in Thursday’s loss in Kansas City. It’s just the second time in his MLB career — and the first since 2017 — that Semien has landed on the IL.