Field Level Media
 | Akron Beacon Journal
Cody Freeman, Josh Jung and Adolis Garcia hit home runs and starter Jack Leiter had his best outing of the season as the Texas Rangers swamped the swooning Cleveland Guardians 10-0 on Aug. 23 in the second of a three-game series in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers have taken the first two games of this series between wild-card hopefuls, doing so in definitive fashion Saturday with a power surge and seven scoreless innings of pitching by Leiter, their rookie right-hander.
Leiter (8-7) allowed just two hits — singles by Gabriel Arias and Kyle Manzardo in the third and fourth innings, respectively — and didn’t walk a batter while striking out 10. No Cleveland batter reached second base until the ninth inning and the Guardians finished with three hits.
Wyatt Langford, Jung and Freeman led Texas’ attack with two hits apiece.
Cleveland has dropped four consecutive games and seven of its past eight.
The Rangers drew first blood in the second inning when Freeman’s one-out, two-run home run to left field plated Josh Jung, who had walked to open the inning.
Texas expanded the lead to 5-0 in the third. Langford doubled to start the inning and moved to third on a flyout. Corey Seager walked and Kyle Higashioka beat out a double-play grounder as Langford scored. Jung then ripped a two-run home run over the left center field wall.
The Rangers pushed their advantage to 7-0 in the fourth when Ezequiel Duran doubled home Freeman and Jonah Heim, who both reached on singles. A two-run home run in the fifth by Garcia, who was activated from the injured list before the game, plated Jung and increased the lead to 9-0.
Duran drove home the Rangers’ final run with a groundout in the sixth.