Marcus Semien drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double to highlight a five-run sixth inning and help lead the Texas Rangers to a 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in Arlington, Texas.
Nathaniel Lowe doubled and had three hits and a run scored, Wyatt Langford went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs and Jonah Heim walked three times and also had an RBI and run as Texas won its second straight game to open a three-game series.
Nathan Eovaldi (4-3) picked up the win after allowing two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Kyle Isbel homered and MJ Melendez doubled and scored a run for Kansas City, which lost for the fourth time in its last five games. John Schreiber (3-2) took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits in one-third of an inning.
Eovaldi retired the first eight batters he faced until Isbel hit his fifth home run of the season, a 387-foot line drive into the bleachers in right, to give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the third.
The Rangers tied it in the fourth against Kansas City starter Brady Singer on Langford’s RBI double into the gap in left-center. Texas then loaded the bases with one out, but Singer got out of the jam by striking out Travis Jankowski and getting Leody Taveras to ground into a pitcher-to-home fielder’s choice.
The Royals took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Melendez led off with a double, advanced to third on a flyout by Nick Loftin and scored on a pinch-hit single by Garrett Hampson.
Texas then vaulted into the lead in the sixth. Adolis Garcia led off with a single and advanced to third on a ground-rule double by Lowe. Langford followed with an RBI single to tie the game, and Heim then drove in Lowe with a fielder’s choice to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.
After Robbie Grossman walked and Taveras loaded the bases with an infield single, Semien drilled a three-run double into the left field corner to make it 6-2.
–Field Level Media
