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Laird hits grand slam as Rangers pound Twins

May 22, 2007 - 5:42 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers are in some kind of groove at the plate.

Gerald Laird hit his first career grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs as the Texas Rangers notched a 14-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday.

Sammy Sosa had two hits and drove in three runs for the Rangers, who have scored 14 runs in consecutive games for the first time since 2002 and have hit 10 homers during that span. It marks the first time Texas has scored 10 or more runs in consecutive games since September 14-15 of 2004.

"I'm not even going to try to figure it out," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I think Rudy (Jaramillo, Texas hitting coach) deserves all the credit. He's got those guys believing they could do what they've been doing."

Texas, which hit six homers in a 14-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday, continued their offensive onslaught against Minnesota.

Frank Catalanotto hit a homer in the second - his third of the season - that made it 2-1. It was the first game back for Catalanotto, who missed 12 games with biceps tendinitis.

Nelson Cruz also hit his third homer of the season in the sixth inning for the Rangers, who won for just the fourth time in the last 13 games.

After Texas played small ball to score four runs in the first four innings, Laird contributed to the eight-run fifth by blasting an 0-1 fastball from rookie reliever Julio DePaula into the left field seats for a 12-2 lead.

"I just tried to go up there and have some good at-bats, just try to hit the ball hard, have a chance to break the game open and he left the pitch up," Laird said. "That's all I wanted to do, was hit the ball hard."

Kenny Lofton, who had two hits and scored three runs, led off the eighth with a single. With one out, Mark Teixeira was intentionally walked to get to Sosa, who made the Twins pay when he blasted a shot to right field that narrowly missed going out. The ball hit off the top of the wall and scored Lofton and Teixeira.

Sosa hopped when he connected, hoping the ball would leave the yard, but he settled for a two-run double. The righthander slugger remains three homers shy of becoming the third player in major league history to hit 600 home runs.

Twins starter Carlos Silva (2-5) was relieved by DePaula, but he fared no better against the red-hot Rangers' lineup, which sent 13 batters to the plate.

The righthander issued one-out walks to Catalanotto and Ian Kinsler before allowing the grand slam to Laird. Texas added two more runs on infield singles by Michael Young and Teixeira. The eight runs scored in the frame were a season high.

"It's one of those things that when guys start hitting, you just get that confidence in the dugout that you can do it," Laird said of the prolific offense. "It's just kind of passing the baton, get yours and the next guy gets his. It's one of those things where you see the guys get it going and it gives a little confidence to yourself."

Silva was charged with seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings to absorb his fourth straight loss, while DePaula gave up seven runs and six hits in one inning.

"We need pitching, and if you don't pitch, you don't win," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Carlos left too many pitches up in the zone, and DePaula had a hard time. We played way too much defense and not enough offense, and that's a product of not getting people out."

Meanwhile, Vicente Padilla (2-6) was pitching his finest game of the season before leaving with two outs in the sixth when Mark Redmond hit a line drive off his hand.

X-rays after the game were negative, and he should be able to make his next start. Padilla allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He was relieved by Willie Eyre, who allowed two runs in two innings.

"He made some pitches when he had to," Washington said. "He was very aggressive out there tonight, his tempo was at good speed, and that was the difference right there. He was just going at them, pounding the strike zone."

Frank Francisco pitched a scoreless eighth and Akinori Otsuka worked a perfect ninth for the Rangers, who pounded out 15 hits.

Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau and Nick Punto all drove in runs for the Twins, who have lost eight of their last 11 games.