This weekend, the Texas Rangers kicked off their 10-game road trip with a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Here’s my Rangers at Royals series recap for your information.
Friday, May 3
The Rangers and Royals faced each other in the series opener for Friday Night Baseball on TXA 21. The Rangers had a chance to score a go-ahead run but made poor use of a 1-1 tie in a 7-1 blowout loss to the Royals. Texas fell to 17-16, while Kansas City improved to 20-13.
Rangers pitcher Michael Lorenzen pitched six innings and gave up four hits, one earned run, three walks, and three strikeouts. Meanwhile, Royals pitcher Brady Singer pitched six innings and gave up four hits, one earned run, and eight strikeouts.
After two scoreless innings, Texas scored first. Corey Seager singled on a line drive to MJ Melendez, and Marcus Semien scored for a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. The Rangers tied the ballgame at one apiece. Hunter Renfroe homered on a fly ball to left field to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Fast forward to when the Royals’ bats came alive. Kyle Isbel singled on a ground ball to Leody Taveras in the bottom of the seventh inning. Dairon Blanco scored to make it a 2-1 game. Bobby Witt Jr. singled on a line drive to Adolis Garcia. Isbel scored to put the Royals up 3-1. Maikel Garcia went to third base. Vinnie Pasquantino singled on a line drive to A. Garcia. M. Garcia scored to extend the Royals’ lead to 4-1. Bobby Witt Jr. went to third base. Salvador Perez homered on a fly ball to left field. Witt Jr. and Pasquantino scored to expand the Royals’ lead to 7-1.
The Rangers lost to the Royals 7-1 after nine innings. For Texas, Andrew Knizner went 1-for-4. And, for Kansas City, Colin Selby pitched one inning.
Saturday, May 4
The Rangers and Royals squared off in the middle game. The Rangers’ offensive outburst led to a 15-4 blowout win over the Royals. Texas improved to 18-16, while Kansas City fell to 20-14.
Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and four strikeouts. Meanwhile, Royals pitcher Michael Wacha threw 3 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits, seven earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.
The Rangers opened the scoring. Adolis Garcia was out on a sacrifice fly to Kyle Isbel. Corey Seager scored for an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with two outs. Evan Carter tripled on a line drive to Hunter Renfroe. Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe scored to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Shortly after, Michael Wacha threw a wild pitch, and Evan Carter scored to make it a 4-0 game.
The Rangers added three more runs. Nathaniel Lowe singled on a sharp line drive to MJ Melendez. Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras scored to extend the Rangers’ lead to 6-0 in the top of the fourth inning. Adolis Garcia singled on a line drive to Hunter Renfroe. Marcus Semien scored to expand the Rangers’ lead to 7-0. As a result, Lowe went to second base.
The Royals finally got on the board to avoid a shutout. Hunter Renfroe singled on a sharp line drive to Travis Jankowski. Michael Massey and Nelson Velazquez scored to cut the Rangers’ lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Vinnie Pasquantino singled on a line drive to Evan Carter. Bobby Witt Jr. scored to cut the Rangers’ lead to 7-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Rangers put the game out of reach for the Royals. Travis Jankowski grounded into a force out to Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Massey. Nathaniel Lowe scored to extend the Rangers’ lead to 8-3 in the top of the seventh inning with two outs. Evan Carter went to third base, Josh Smith was out at second base, and Travis Jankowski went to first base. Then, Colin Serby threw a wild pitch, and Carter and Jankowski scored to expand the Rangers’ lead to 10-3. Jonah Heim went to third base after Salvador Perez committed a throwing error. Garrett Hampson singled on a ground ball to Josh Smith. Michael Massey scored to cut the Rangers’ lead to 10-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Rangers’ bats exploded all of a sudden. Josh Smith tripled on a line drive to Hunter Renfroe. Evan Carter scored to extend the Rangers’ lead to 11-4 in the top of the ninth inning. Travis Jankowski singled on a ground ball to Renfroe. Smith scored to expand the Rangers’ lead to 12-4. Leody Taveras doubled on a sharp line drive to Renfroe. Jankowski scored to make it a 13-4 game. Heim went to third base. Marcus Semien grounded out to Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino. Heim scored for a 14-4 lead with two outs. Taveras went to third base. Ezequiel Duran singled on a line drive to Garrett Hampson. Taveras scored to end the inning with a 15-4 lead.
The Rangers blew out the Royals 15-4 after nine innings. Jonathan Hernandez pitched two innings and gave up one earned run for Texas. Dairon Blanco was 0-for-1 for Kansas City.
Sunday, May 5
The Rangers and Royals competed against each other in the rubber match. The Rangers dethroned the Royals with a 3-2 win in ten innings and a 2-1 series win. Texas improved to 19-16. while Kansas City fell to 20-15.
Rangers pitcher Jon Gray had a good day, pitching seven innings and giving up seven hits, two earned runs, and seven strikeouts. Meanwhile, Royals pitcher Daniel Lynch IV had a pretty good day, pitching five innings and giving up two hits, two walks, and six strikeouts.
Unfortunately, the start of the ballgame was delayed due to rain, and Kansas City announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the game had an expected start time of 2:30 p.m. Central. The Royals got on the board first. Vinnie Pasquantino was out on a sacrifice fly to Leody Taveras. Bobby Witt Jr. scored for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with two outs. Vinnie Pasquantino doubled on a line drive to Evan Carter. Bobby Witt Jr. scored to make it a 2-0 game in the bottom of the third inning.
Corey Seager was out on a sacrifice fly to Kyle Isbel. Leody Taveras scored to cut the Royals’ lead to 2-1 in the top of the eighth inning with two outs. Jonah Heim homered on a fly ball to right field to tie the game 2-2 in the top of the ninth inning. After nine innings, the game remained a 2-2 tie, so the final result was to be decided by extra innings.
The Rangers took a one-run lead. Nathaniel Lowe singled on a sharp line drive to Hunter Renfroe. Leody Taveras scored to make it a 3-2 game in the top of the tenth inning. Corey Seager went to second base. After ten innings, the Rangers held on for a 3-2 win over the Royals. For Texas, David Robertson pitched one inning and gave up one strikeout. And, for Kansas City, Nelson Velazquez was 0-for-1.
Up Next
The Rangers will continue their road trip starting with a four-game series at the Oakland Athletics beginning Monday at 8:40 p.m. Central.
