• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rangers hit six homers in rout of Astros

May 20, 2007 - 10:39 PM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers settled the rubber game of the Lone Star State rivalry in emphatic fashion.

Victor Diaz and Mark Teixeira each had four hits, including a pair of homers, and Ramon Vazquez homered and drove in a career-high five runs as the Rangers rolled to a 14-1 victory over the Houston Astros.

Texas had a season-high 18 hits and matched a season-high with 14 runs.

Diaz, Teixeira, Vazquez and Gerald Laird accounted for 14 of the hits and 12 runs. Diaz and Vazquez were each recalled from Class AAA Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League earlier this month.

"(Diaz and Vazquez) are professionals," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We knew Diaz could hit, but in spring training we told him he had to be more serious about his defense. He looks like he's done that. Vazquez was one of our real good utility guys in spring training and we could only take two. He's come up here and done very well."

Brandon McCarthy (4-4) won his third straight decision, allowing just one run and four hits in six innings.

"I tried to be more aggressive and keep the ball in the zone and let them make outs," McCarthy said. "I made more quality pitches in big situations. It's throwing more strikes than anything else."

Houston's Woody Williams (1-6) lasted just four-plus innings and yielded five runs and eight hits, including three homers.

Diaz, who was 1-for-18 in his previous seven career interleague games, went 4-for-5 with three RBI. He had a pair of solo homers and two singles, one of which drove in a run.

After going hitless in his first three weeks since being recalled from Oklahoma, Diaz is 12-for-32 (.375) with five home runs and nine RBI in his last 10 games.

"It's just an opportunity to go out there, have fun, help the team win and play good offense and defense," Diaz said. "I have to take advantage of the opportunity that (Ron) Washington gives me."

Teixeira was hitless in his first eight at-bats in the series before going 4-for-6 with two homers and three RBI on Sunday.

Vazquez went 3-for-3 with a pair of walks. He had a two-run homer, RBI single and a two-run double to improve to 6-for-8 with two home runs in the series while filling in for injured third baseman Hank Blalock, who is expected to miss 10-12 weeks after shoulder surgery Monday.

"I just want to go out there and play good whenever they give me the chance," Vazquez said. "There's a bunch of guys that can play third. They're going to look for matchups. We're just trying to win ballgames."

Laird was 3-for-4 with an RBI double and Kenny Lofton added a two-run homer in the ninth inning to complete the rout.

Rookie Hunter Pence tripled and scored Houston's lone run on a groundout by Luke Scott in the third inning.

The Astros signed Williams to a two-year, $14 million contract in the offseason to help offset the losses of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. But Williams has been a bust, pitching to a 5.52 ERA.

"I've never been through anything like this," Williams said. "It's the worst stretch of my career. I haven't gone back to check it, but there's no need to. It's the hardest thing I've ever been through. Obviously, they had a great game plan against me and they carried it out throughout the game."

Teixeira homered off Williams with two outs in the first inning to give Texas the lead.

The Rangers jumped on Williams for three more in the second. Nelson Cruz led off the inning with a double. One out later, Laird doubled and Vazquez followed with his second home run of the season to increase the lead to 4-0.

"They got (Williams) on the ropes early," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "I didn't think he had his best stuff. His curveball wasn't good and he never got on a rhythm."

Diaz homered over the right field wall to lead off the fifth inning and knock out Williams.

Rick White relieved and yielded a single to Ian Kinsler, a walk to Laird and an RBI single to Vazquez.

Diaz hit his second homer of the game and fifth of the season in the seventh inning.

Teixeira had an RBI single in the eighth inning before Texas closed with five more runs in the ninth, highlighted by a two-run double by Vazquez and a two-run homer by Lofton.

Texas last scored as many runs in a 14-2 victory over the New York Yankees on May 10.

Houston leads the overall series against the Rangers, 21-18.