WASHINGTON (AP) - Anthony Rendon went 4 for 5 and hit one of four Washington home runs, and Doug Fister allowed four hits in six innings as the Nationals routed the Texas Rangers 10-2 on Saturday.
Adam LaRoche, Jose Lobaton, and pinch-hitter Scott Hairston also homered in Washington’s offensive surge.
The Nationals have racked up 24 runs and 42 hits in their last three games, winning two straight to climb back to .500.
Rendon had six straight hits over two games before striking out in the eighth.
Fister (3-1) allowed two runs and retired the first 10 Texas batters. He’s 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in his last four starts, with 21 strikeouts and two walks.
Rangers starter Nick Tepesch (2-1) allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits. He had won two straight decisions, but didn’t make it past the second inning Saturday.
Fister came in with a 5.67 career ERA against the Rangers, but didn’t give up a hit until Elvis Andrus doubled in the fourth. He had an 8-0 lead by the time Texas scored in the fifth.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the first when Rendon lined a Tepesch pitch into the Rangers bullpen for his sixth home run.
In the second, Danny Espinosa doubled with one out. Lobaton, spelling Wilson Ramos in a day game after a night game, worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a homer into the first row of seats in right center.
Tepesch had given up just two homers in 18 1-3 innings before Saturday.
The Nationals weren’t done in the second, with singles by Denard Span and Rendon. Jayson Werth doubled and the ball was bobbled in left by Shin-Soo Choo. Both Span and Rendon scored to make it 5-0.
Texas wasn’t charged with any errors in the fourth inning, but two plays they didn’t make allowed Washington to break the game open.
Andrus lost Fister’s pop-up in the sun and it fell for a lead-off single. Then with first and second and one out, Werth hit a smash that Andrus bobbled before recovering to get the force at second, with Werth just beating the relay.
LaRoche then followed with a 3-run shot, his seventh of the year, putting the Nationals up 8-0. He has hit safely in all five games (7 for 22) since returning from a right quad strain.
The Rangers got to Fister in the fifth when Alex Rios walked and scored on a double by Rougned Odor, and Mitch Moreland added an RBI-single in the sixth.
Hairston, pinch-hitting for Werth, hit a two-run homer in the sixth.
NOTES: Texas manager Ron Washington used pitcher Nick Martinez to pinch hit for Tepesch in the third inning. Martinez grounded out. . It was the Rangers sixth straight game without hitting a home run. . Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman (broken right thumb) was slated to play five innings in left field during his second rehab game Saturday night at Class A Potomac, Virginia. Zimmerman went 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly as the designated hitter Friday night. . Hairston has 13 career pinch-hit homers, the most among active players. . RH Yu Darvish (4-2, 2.35) faces Washington’s Tanner Roark (3-3, 3.47) in Sunday’s series finale.
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