Rangers Pound Royals

The Texas Rangers belted 5 home runs to rout the Kansas City Royals 10-1 on Saturday night in Arlington.  Since the return of Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz to the lineup, the Rangers are averaging over 5 runs per game.  Rangers manager Ron Washington is happy to have them back in the lineup, “With those two guys in our lineup, it’s tough for any pitcher to get all the way through it without having some hiccups along the way, even if they don’t do anything on that day.  Just the fact that they are there and what they can do with one swing of the bat. It does make a difference in our lineup. It makes everyone else better.”

In the 2nd inning, Mitch Moreland, Mike Napoil, and Endy Chavez hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead.  They would continue to score, as Adrian Beltre hit a home run to start the Rangers’ half of the 3rd, and Nelson Cruz added another one in the 6th.

Texas got 15 hits in the game, led by Nelson Cruz and Mitch Moreland, who each went 3-for-4.

Matt Harrison earned the win for Texas, going 6 scoreless innings before leaving the game with a blister.  Yoshinori Tateyama finished the game for the Rangers to earn his first save of the year.

The Rangers and Royals resume their series Sunday afternoon.