Seventh Inning Explosion Lifts Royals Over Rangers, 7-1
After a road series victory against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Kansas City Royals started the home series in style against the Texas Rangers with a 7-1 victory, including a six-run seventh inning.
The Royals clinched the series in Toronto by winning the second and third games. In each of those contests, stellar pitching and defense were the headlines, and that was the case for most of game one against the defending World Series champs on Friday night.
Royals pitcher Brady Singer allowed three hits through the first three innings, including an RBI single by shortstop Corey Seager to open up the scoring, but the Rangers only recorded one hit for the rest of Singer's time on the mound. In total, Singer played for six innings and allowed four hits, zero walks, that one run and threw eight strikeouts on 105 pitches.
However, the Royals' bats didn't due Singer many favors, as Kansas City tallied just their third hit of the night in the fifth inning. That said, that hit was a home run by right fielder Hunter Renfroe to tie the game at one piece.
Before that, Rangers pitcher Michael Lorenzen and the defense handled the Royals as Kansas City had nine groundouts until the home run and six prior to their first hit. Like Singer, Lorenzen was taken out after six innings and allowed that one run on four hits, threw three strikeouts and three walks on 86 pitches.
After Rangers left fielder Evan Carter was walked by relief pitcher John Schreiber to start the seventh inning, the Kansas City infield was able to turn a double play from the next batter. But Texas followed that with two hits an another walk to load the bases. Fortunately, Schreiber was able to make up for the mishaps by striking out two-time All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien leaving three Rangers on base.
Similar to the Rangers, the Royals also had some excitement in the seventh inning, as Texas reliever Cole Winn allowed two early hits to left fielder MJ Melendez and center fielder Kyle Isbel's single brought the fellow outfielder home to break the tie. Immediately after that, third baseman Maikel Garcia, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino singled to bring in two more runs.
Winn was taken out after Pasquantino's RBI, but that wouldn't make much of a difference as reliever José Ureña gave up a 386-foot three-run homer to first baseman Salvador Perez--his first batter. That ended up being the final runs of the game for either side, as Royals relievers Angel Zerpa and xx took care of business in the eighth and ninth innings.
