power surge

As the Texas Rangers were blasting their way into first place in the American League West over the last seven days, Nathaniel Lowe was relatively quiet. Maybe that’s about to change. The former Mississippi State standout hit his first home run since Sept. 13 on Monday night, the third of three straight bombs that propelled the Rangers to their sixth straight victory, 5-1 against the Los Angeles Angels. Hitting seventh for the first time this year in the Rangers’ stacked lineup, Lowe launched his 17th home run in the sixth inning, following blasts by Adolis Garcia and Mitch Garver. It was the first instance of back-to-back-to-back homers for the Rangers since August 2015, when ex-MSU star Mitch Moreland, Mike Napoli and Elvis Andrus performed the trick. “Three in a row is pretty cool,” Lowe said in a postgame TV interview. “I’ve never been a part of something like that before.” Also pretty cool for the Rangers is that they’ve reduced their magic number for clinching the division to 4 and for clinching a wild card spot to 2 with six games remaining. Lowe is just 2-for-25 during the current win streak and has seen his average drop to .267. He hit .302 last year and has been the Rangers’ No. 3 hitter most of the season. It should be noted that Lowe has drawn 90 walks this season, and his .365 on-base average is eighth in the AL. With power bats up and down their lineup, much like Atlanta, the Rangers lead the league in homers. If Lowe has rediscovered his power stroke, that would be quite a bonus for a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2016.