Kansas City, Mo. (AP) — Corey Seager homered and singled to lead the Texas Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
The Rangers took two of three from the Royals and have won nine of 12 games and four straight series to reach .500 — at 34-34 — for the first time since May 1.
Texas jumped ahead 2-0 on Brandon Nimmo’s RBI double in the first inning and Elias Díaz’s squeeze bunt single in the second.
Leading off the third, Seager
hit his ninth home run into the right field bullpen off Royals starter Michael Wacha.
Kansas City loaded the bases to open the fourth against Kumar Rocker and scored a pair of runs on a double-play grounder and Kameron Misner’s RBI single, his first hit with the Royals.
Rocker left with two outs in the fifth after allowing two runs and five hits. Jacob Latz (2-1), the last of three Texas relievers, struck out three in two hitless innings.
Evan Carter's RBI single in the sixth capped the scoring.
Joc Pederson remained out of the Rangers' lineup after leaving Wednesday’s game with left hip discomfort.
Wacha (4-5) allowed four runs and nine hits in seven innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Kansas City has lost six straight games in which Wacha has started by a combined 10 runs. He has received three or fewer runs of support in each start.
Jac Caglianone had two of Kansas City’s six hits. He has reached base safely in 22 of 36 plate appearances in nine June games.
The Royals grounded into three double plays.
Due to the threat of inclement weather, the game’s start was delayed more than two hours.
Rangers: RHP Jack Leiter (3-5, 4.69 ERA) opposes Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (7-1, 3.20) on Friday in Boston.
Royals: RHP Luinder Avila (1-2, 4.02) faces Houston Astros RHP Tatsuya Imai (3-3, 5.24) on Friday at home.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
