Tribe wallop Rangers 17-7

Chisenhall's 9 RBIs lead Cleveland in blowout

Texas Rangers left fielder Dan Robertson cannot reach the two run homer by Cleveland Indians Lonnie Chisenhall during the fourth inning.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Lonnie Chisenhall had nine RBIs and three home runs in a five-hit game, Michael Brantley scored five times and the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 17-7 Monday night.

The only other nine-RBI game in Cleveland history was by Chris James in a 20-6 victory for the Indians on May 4, 1991, against Oakland.

Chisenhall had two-run homers in the second and fourth innings before hitting a three-run shot down the right field line in the eighth to give the Indians a 17-6 lead.

The offensive outburst puts Chisenhall in rare company. He is only the fourth major league player since RBIs became a statistic in 1920 to have at least five hits, nine RBIs and three homers in a game, and he is the first since Boston’s Fred Lynn did it in 1975, according to the Indians.

The Indians won three straight in the four-game set after coming to the Lone Star State with the worst road record in the majors.

The Rangers are winless in their past seven series at home, where they dropped to 15-18 for the season.

Chisenhall had the first three-homer game for the Indians since Sept. 17, 2010, by Shin-Soo Choo, who now plays for the Rangers. The left-handed hitter had an RBI single in the first and a run-scoring double in the sixth.

The homers and RBIs were career highs for Chisenhall. He had five hits earlier this season at Toronto.

Cleveland hit five homers, won for the ninth time in 10 games and pulled within two games of Detroit just three weeks after trailing by 10 1/2.

Texas right-hander Nick Martinez (1-3) gave up eight runs in two innings in a matchup of rookie starters. Cleveland left-hander T.J. House didn’t make it to the fifth inning and missed a chance for his first major league win despite taking a 9-1 lead into the third.

Scott Atchison (3-0) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings.

Chisenhall, who had the second multihomer game of his career, finished the series 10 for 17 with four homers and 13 RBIs.

Brantley tied his career high with his 10th home run for a 10-4 lead in the fourth and reached base all five times. George Kottaras had the other Cleveland homer, his third.

Texas’ Alex Rios, who went 2 for 4 and is the AL’s top hitter at .335, had his league-leading eighth triple, driving home Adrian Beltre in the third. Michael Choice hit his third homer in the past five games, giving him six for the season.

Jason Kipnis had three singles and four RBIs for the Indians, including a two-run single in a five-run second inning.

NOTES: The others with five hits, three homers and 9 RBIs since 1920, according to STATS, were Gil Hodges for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950 against the Boston Braves and Walker Cooper for Cincinnati against the Chicago Cubs in 1949.