García in rare company after 3-HR, 8-RBI night

ARLINGTON -- Adolis García stopped and stared as the ball left his bat, watching it land in the second deck of the left-field seats at Globe Life Field, before casually flipping his bat and making a trip around the bases following a two-run home run.

Little did he know, he didn’t have to savor it quite so much. He would get another two soon after. García launched three home runs to power the Rangers' 18-3 win over the A's on Saturday night, totaling six RBIs before the sixth inning even rolled around. Each of his three homers were projected at 400+ feet, combining for 1,252 feet of home runs.

“I've been fortunate to manage great players,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “I will say I had a player that was similar with the way he plays, with the joy that he plays with, and that was Pablo Sandoval. He hit three home runs in the World Series. They just love baseball and they play the game the way you want them to play. They play with passion. They love being out there, and they're smiling all the time. That’s Adolis.”

It was the first-three homer game in the short history of Globe Life Field, which opened for the 2020 season.

It marked the 19th time a Ranger has hit at least three homers in a regular-season game. García is the first since Ronald Guzmán on Aug. 10, 2018, against the Yankees. Josh Hamilton holds the club record and share of the overall record with four in one game, which Hamilton accomplished on May 8, 2012, against the Orioles.

“You just don’t see that often,” Bochy added. “He's a tremendous talent, a great all-around player, good outfielder, baserunner. But I mean, the bat. What he did tonight, it's just impressive. It's fun to watch great athletes when they get locked in and have a night like tonight. It was a lot of fun for all of us to watch that one.”

García had two chances to hit a fourth long ball, but settled for two more doubles. He tied a single-game Major League record with five extra-base hits, which had only been done 13 times, the last by Milwaukee’s Luis Urías on Aug. 12, 2021.

García is also just the fourth AL/NL player to log three homers and two doubles in one game, and the first of that group in the AL. The others are Alex Dickerson (Giants, 9/1/2020), Matt Carpenter (Cardinals, 7/20/2018) and Kris Bryant (Cubs, 6/27/2016).

García's eight RBIs were a career high, and Saturday marked the first eight-RBI game by a Ranger since Nelson Cruz on May 25, 2012, against Toronto. The only Ranger with more RBIs in a game was Ivan Rodriguez, who had nine on April 13, 1999, at Seattle.

The outfielder recalled the only other time he could remember hitting three homers in a single game, and it came in 2018 in the Cardinals organization, during his tenure with Triple-A Memphis. He also had eight RBIs that game.

“It was an incredible night for me,” García said through interpreter Raul Cardenas. “I didn’t expect something like this to happen, but I’m really blessed and thankful for it. … I was just looking for certain pitches, in a certain zone. I wasn't trying to do too much and not overthinking it, just trying to make good contact. I wanted to hit the home run [in the last at-bat], but a double is just as good. I’ll take it.”

Rangers starter Andrew Heaney was almost speechless when asked to describe watching García’s night.

“It was great,” he said. “I mean obviously it's amazing, he's a great player. It's fun to see any player go out there and do something like that. He's just that dangerous. I know from being on the other side of it, we’ve talked about that, and now getting to be on this side of it, it's much more fun, much more enjoyable. I’m just happy for him.”

García may have stolen the show, but his was the headlining performance in a solid showing that saw the Rangers rebound from a disappointing effort in Friday night’s loss to the A’s.

Eight of the Rangers’ nine starters reached base at least once, with five -- including García -- recording multi-hit days. Rookie Josh Jung extended his career-best hit streak to 10 games with two singles, while Jonah Heim extended his own on-base streak to 11 games.

The offense as a whole is continuing to click at the right time.

“I think it is [contagious],” Bochy said of the offensive performance as a whole. “You have your gameplan and you try to stay with it and maintain that discipline. These guys, I think they do feed off each other. It does get contagious.”