Rangers 10, Royals 1
Mitch Moreland, Mike Napoli and Endy Chavez, the Texas Rangers’ Nos. 7-8-9 hitters, belted back-to-back-to-back home runs in the second inning to ignite a 10-1 rout over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz also went deep as the Rangers blasted five home runs to back six scoreless innings by Matt Harrison (5-4).
Texas broke the game open with the three consecutive bombs in the second inning for a 5-0 lead. The last time the Rangers accomplished that feat was April 25, 2004. Ironically, it was also done by the 7-8-9 hitters that day.
Beltre had a two-run double in the first and a solo homer in the third and Napoli cushioned the Rangers’ lead to 7-0 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly. Texas turned it into a blowout with three runs in the sixth with an RBI double by Josh Hamilton and a two-run blast by Cruz.
The Royals, who have lost six of their last seven, couldn’t get anything going against Harrison, who scattered five hits with a walk and a strikeout. Reliever Yoshinori Tateyama earned a rare three-inning save.
The Royals avoided the shutout with an RBI groundout by Matt Treanor in the seventh.
KC starter Sean O’Sullivan (2-4) went 5 2/3 innings, allowing 10 runs on 15 hits with two walks and a strikeout.