Rangers Start Trip By Routing Royals
Mitch Garver had never hit a home run at Kauffman Stadium. On Monday night, the Texas Rangers’ designated hitter took care of that in a 10-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Garver, battling a right forearm flexor muscle strain that he says will require surgery at some point, connected on that long ball in the top of the fifth to give the Rangers a 7-4 lead.
In a sloppy game marked by eight combined runs in the first two innings and two errors by Kansas City, the Rangers (35-37) ultimately exploited those mistakes, a young starting pitcher and a Royals bullpen to start their nine-game, 10-day road trip with a win.
The Rangers were coming off a 6-4 loss to Washington on Sunday.
Garver’s home run wasn’t the game-winner, but it was a boost for the former Minnesota catcher. He spent five seasons with the Twins and had not hit a home run in Kansas City until he turned on a 90-mile-per-hour fastball from Royals starter Kris Bubic (1-5) to push the Texas lead to three runs.
He was hitting .200 going into the contest, having gone 1-for-9 with three walks in four games since being activated from the COVID-19 injured list last Tuesday.
Garver ended up going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs.
“I had a few pitches to hit earlier in the game, and I really wanted to capitalize on that one, and I took my shot and I got it,” Garver said.
Texas actually got the lead for good in the fourth inning, the result of one of the two Kansas City errors. The Royals (26-46) had difficulty fielding all night. They had several other misplays that were not scored errors that led to baserunners for the Rangers.
One of the charged errors came when the Rangers outfielder Leody Taveras bunted to the first-base side to lead off the fourth. Bubic’s throw went high above the glove of first baseman Hunter Dozier, allowing Taveras to get to second. A Bubic wild pitch moved Taveras to third and, after a Charlie Culberson strikeout, Marcus Semien’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Taveras and gave the Rangers a 5-4 edge.
Bubic left the game after giving up the Garver homer. He went 4 2/3 innings, giving up nine hits, seven runs (five earned) and three walks while striking out two.
Meanwhile, Rangers starter Martín Pérez (6-2) had a workmanlike outing, as he threw six innings and had to work around giving up seven hits and four runs, all of which came in the first two innings. He walked two and struck out six, and all of those strikeouts were looking.
In the first two innings, the Rangers and Royals combined for eight runs.
The Royals scored a run in the bottom of the first as Whit Merrifield and Andrew Benintendi reached on infield singles. Bobby Witt Jr.’s fielder’s choice groundout to Rangers shortstop Corey Seager scored Merrifield, but Pérez struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.
The Rangers batted around in the top of the second, led by catcher Jonah Heim, who was celebrating his 27th birthday. He led off with a single. The Rangers loaded the bases for Nathaniel Lowe, who walked home a run to tie the game. Taveras outsmarted the shift to the third-base side with an opposite-field, two-run single. Later, Lowe made it 4-1 when he scored from third on Seager’s groundout. Royals first baseman Hunter Dozier’s throw was on time, but it got away from catcher Cam Gallagher as he applied the tag.
The lead didn’t last long.
Merrifield cut the Texas lead to 4-3 with a two-run double that slipped by Taveras in the right-center field gap. Merrifield scored on a Benintendi single to tie the game.
Six Rangers had at least two hits, part of 15 the Rangers had for the game. Semien, Seager and Adolis García combined for just two hits.
Heim finished with three hits, while Garver, Calhoun, Lowe, Taveras and Culberson had two hits each.
This came after the Rangers struggled at the plate in their three-game series with Washington.
“They’re willing to listen to criticism and we were hard on them today,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “They bounced back and they answered. We should give every team fits with the talent that we have.”
The Rangers continue the road trip at Kansas City on Tuesday. After a day game on Wednesday, the Rangers have an off-day on Thursday before three games at the New York Mets, followed by a three-game series at the Baltimore Orioles next week.
Texas returns home on July 8 to host Minnesota, the start of a nine-game homestand before the All-Star Break.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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