Winker Paces Reds With 5 RBIs In 11-3 Rout Over Rangers
CINCINNATI (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — With his dad set to leave town Sunday evening, Jesse Winker had limited time to provide an extra-special Father's Day.
No worries — Joe Winker went to the airport with plenty to be proud of.
Winker homered and set career highs with four hits and five RBIs, Yasiel Puig added a two-run shot, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Texas Rangers 11-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
"It was really cool to have a good day on Father's Day," Winker said. "It was a cool weekend with my dad. We got to play some cards and smoke some cigars. It was funny. He had to be at the airport by five. He tried to stay for as many at-bats as he could."
The Reds broke open a one-run game with a four-run fourth. Winker followed pitcher Sonny Gray's leadoff triple with a homer, his 11th of the season and first in 21 games. Puig drove in Joey Votto with a shot off the batter's eye for his 13th homer on the first pitch he saw from reliever Pete Fairbanks.
"It was a big day for Wink," manager David Bell said. "The two-run home run was the big hit of the game."
Puig had three hits for the second time in three games.
Gray worked around Shin-Soo Choo's solo home run and Hunter Pence's two-run shot to finish five innings in a game that was delayed at the start by 1 hour, 34 minutes. Gray (3-5) gave up five hits and three runs with one walk and eight strikeouts. He improved to 3-1 with a 2.93 ERA over his last four starts.
Ariel Jurado, who won each of his previous three starts, lasted three batters into the fourth inning. Jurado (4-3) allowed nine hits, the most of any of his six starts this season, and seven runs with one walk and no strikeouts. He also hit a batter.
"Jurado left a lot of balls over the plate," Texas manager Chris Woodward said. "They were all over his changeup."
The Rangers went 4-3 on their road trip through Boston and Cincinnati.
Neither Puig in right field or Winker in center moved more than a step on Choo's first-inning rocket into the right-center field seats, Choo's 12th of the season.
Winker followed Jose Peraza's sacrifice fly, Peraza's first of the season, with a two-run double for a 3-1 Reds lead in the second. It was Winker's first RBIs since May 28.
"He's been hitting the ball hard," Bell said. "The results haven't been there."
Pence tied it with his drive into the visitors' bullpen in left-center field in the third on a 3-0 fastball, Pence's 17th career homer against Cincinnati, tied for the second most against any opponent.
Winker added an RBI single in Cincinnati's three-run fifth.
The Rangers are now 38-33 and will take on the Cleveland Indians at Globe Life Park Monday at 7:05 p.m.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
