Kyle Higashioka's five RBIs leads Rangers over Padres

SAN DIEGO - Playing against his former team, Rangers' catcher Kyle Higashioka delivered with a three hit, five RBI performance during Saturday's 7-4 victory against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. 

To go with Higashioka's three hits, the rest of the Rangers lineup had the remaining eight hits. Meanwhile, the Padres finished the game with 10 hits on starter Patrick Corbin, but the ball club continued to fuel the looming concern of the team not being on the winning end of a timely at-bat, as they left 10 runners on base and finishing 1-for-6 with RISP.    

"I felt good about the whole game. Quite honest, the whole night." Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "I like our at-bats, I liked our approaches. Good at-bats on (Patrick) Corbin... I felt good about it, just couldn't stop them and couldn't get on top of them."  

Dealing with one problem already, the Padres encountered another obstacle with starting pitcher Stephen Kolek, who gave up one earned run on three hits in his last start.

Owning an 4.34 ERA in his last seven starts, Kolek tossed a first-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate to Josh Smith for solo shot, taking it 409 ft to right-center field for the Rangers (44-45) to jump ahead very early on. Kolek did redeem himself by retiring the next three batters he faced.

Padres left Luis Arraez and Manny Machado on the corners with two-outs after a tough grab by left fielder Wyatt Langford, robbing Xander Bogaerts denying possible run(s) from scoring.

Kolek rebounded in next frame with a one, two, three inning, retiring the order on nine pitches. 

Picking up where he left off on Independence Day, Jake Cronenworth continued his surge by giving the Padres a 2-1 lead in bottom of second. After Jose Iglesias was walked on four pitches, Cronenworth faced against another lefty pitcher and labeled a ball 105 mph off his bat for a two-run home run to right-center field. 

Kolek started the third frame by hitting Jake Burger by a pitch. Then, Higashioka regained the lead for the Rangers, smashing a 84 mph slider to the left field seats for his second home run of the season.

"I thought I had a good plan going in, but my stuff was not exactly where I wanted it to be," Kolek said. "When he hit the home run, I thought I started a sweeper at the right spot and it just completely backed up on me and stayed right over the plate. It was right pitch. right call (by) Díaz."  

The Padres would go down in order during bottom of third inning, including a a tremendous leaping grab by Smith, going full extension to record the third out. 

Looking to add some cushion to their lead, the Rangers produced a two-out rally in the fourth inning that started with Kolek walking Langford. Jonah Heim would then extend the Rangers lead by a run with an RBI double to right field, which was later followed by a RBI by Higaskioka to make 5-2. 

The Friars looked to answer right back with their own two-out push having Cronenworth and Gavin Sheets both in scoring position, but would miss the mark after a soft ground out by Elias Díaz. 

Langford and Burger reached on base again during the sixth inning with one out, which lead to the Rangers earning their sixth run of the evening following a Higashioka sac-fly. 

After conducting a scoreless fifth inning, Kolek was not able to repeat in the following frame after giving up a pair of singles, which led to reliever Yuki Matsui replace him. 

Completing 5 ⅓ innings, Kolek threw for 83 pitches and allowed six earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and a walk. The Padres now own a 0-6 record in Kolek's last six starts.

"Overall tonight, execution was really bad," Kolek said. "I feel like I could have done much much better... I didn't have my sweeper, didn't have a feel for my cutter, fastball command, two-seam, four-seam was kind of all over the place a little bit. Just trying to grind the best I could but it got to be better." 

After issuing a walk to Corey Seager during the seventh inning, 26-year-old Eduarniel Núñez would step on the hill to replace Matsui, making his second major league appearance. Núñez would pop out Marcus Semien and force a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.  

Looking at a four-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Padres gave themselves an opportunity to cut into the Rangers lead by hitting two sac-flies by Jackson Merrill and Machado.

Bryan Hoeing stepped on the bump during the eight inning and gave up the only run allowed by the Padres' bullpen following Higashioka's ground ball single to earn his third hit and fifth RBI of the game.  

"Doesn't surprise me," Shildt said about his former player. "We've seen him really good. He's very well liked and respected in our clubhouse and it's hard to see him other side. I know he's only here for a year, but (he) create a lot of really good bonds, and he just a quality guy and a quality player."   

San Diego managed to get two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth but ultimately could not take advantage. 

Arraez was the bright spot for the Padres, concluding his night going 4-for-5 and is now batting .290 with 97 hits with 33 RBIs. 

"I thought he was fantastic," Shildt said. "(Josh) Smith makes a leaping play. Something hops there he could easily had five hits." 

In addition to his single in the first inning, Machado is now two hits away from capturing 2,000 career.  

Tied with Giants and Cardinals, the Padres are still holding onto the final National League Wild Card spot, but are now eight games behind the Dodgers in the NL West

The Padres still haven't named a starting pitcher for Sunday’s series finale. The Rangers will look to start right hander Jack Leiter (4-5, 4.29 ERA). 

In his last start on June 29, Leiter gave up one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts through six innings in the Rangers 6-4 loss in extra innings.