MacKenzie Gore struck out seven in his Texas debut, and Brandon Nimmo and Andrew McCutchen both homered to lead the Texas Rangers to an 8-3 win over the…<\/p>\n
PHILADELPHA(AP) \u2014 MacKenzie Gore struck out seven in his Texas debut, and Brandon Nimmo and Andrew McCutchen both homered to lead the Rangers to an 8-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Gore made his first start for the Rangers<\/a> after he was acquired from Washington in an offseason trade. He tossed five hitless innings before his bid for Texas’ first no-hitter since Kenny Rogers threw a perfect game in 1994 was broken up by a leadoff infield single from Justin Crawford in the sixth.<\/p>\n Gore (1-0) fanned Bryce Harper with the bases loaded in the sixth and left the game after he plunked Alec Bohm with a pitch to make it 6-1. The bullpen did the rest to help the Rangers take two<\/a> of three from the NL East champion Phillies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nimmo, a former New York Mets outfielder who was booed all weekend, took Phillies starter Jes\u00fas Luzardo (0-1) deep for a two-run shot in the second. McCutchen, also in his first season with the Rangers, hit a three-run homer in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. <\/p>\n Kyle Higashioka hit a fly to right in the sixth that Adolis Garcia, a former Ranger, appeared to lose in the sun. He slipped and fell to the ground \u2014 and so did the baseball for an RBI single and a 6-0 lead.<\/p>\n That was enough run support for Gore.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old lefty is 26-41 with a 4.19 ERA in four major league seasons, the past three with Washington. He was an NL All-Star last season, but he faded in the second half and ended up going 5-15 with a 4.17 ERA and a career-best 185 strikeouts in 30 appearances, all starts.<\/p>\n