Corey Seager hit two home runs and drove in four runs, leading the Texas Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
Seager’s nine home runs in August tie him for the major league lead with Miami’s Jake Burger. He also hit two home runs on August 2 against Boston.
The Rangers finished with five hits in the game.
Texas right-hander José Ureña (4-8) pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Dane Dunning. Ureña struck out three batters and walked two.
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his 22nd save after his first blown save of the season on Sunday.
The defending World Series champions, who are 11 games behind in the AL West and 12½ games back in the wild-card race, have won two games in a row for the first time since sweeping a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox in July.
“These are two big games for us, and we can hopefully keep building off it,” Seager said.
Thirteen of Seager’s team-high 28 home runs have come on the first pitch, which is the most in the majors.
Pittsburgh has lost 12 of their last 14 games. Jared Triolo hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning for the Pirates.
Seager hit a solo home run in the first inning against Luis Ortiz (5-4) and then connected on a three-run homer in the third inning. Both of Seager’s home runs were to right field; the first one went about 20 rows deep, and the second barely cleared the wall.
“We made two, flat, middle-middle breaking balls to him,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said about Seager. “I mean, you cannot do that. And then Ureña came in the game, and he shut us down.”
Triolo, who played for Lake Travis High near Austin and the University of Houston, hit his second home run of August, a 1-1 slider just inside the left-field foul pole, among three hits in 21 at-bats.
Ortiz allowed five hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking one.
Dunning made his second consecutive start since returning to the rotation due to injuries to several Rangers pitchers. He was charged with three runs and five hits.
