Ezequiel Duran dropped a walk-off, RBI single into right field, and the Texas Rangers rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to win 7-6 over the scuffling Kansas City Royals on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
Texas trailed 6-4 entering the ninth, when Joc Pederson led off with an opposite-field homer to right off Lucas Erceg (3-3). Josh Jung and Brandon Nimmo followed with back-to-back infield singles and Jake Burger’s third hit tied the contest.
Duran, hitless in the game to that point, came through with a ball that fell in front of right fielder Jac Caglianone, allowing Nimmo to score and the Rangers to take the first two of this three-game set.
Kansas City, which has lost five straight, managed just three hits and could not take advantage of three walks allowed by Texas’ Kumar Rocker, who had a 3-0 lead when he left following the sixth inning. However, the Royals finally broke through in the seventh.
With Tyler Alexander on the Rangers mound, Isaac Collins led off by bouncing a ground-rule double into the right field corner. After going to third on Nick Loftin’s one-out single, Collins scored via Carter Jensen’s single.
The Royals tied it at 3-3 with consecutive RBI singles from Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia, who exited later in the seventh with a hamstring strain while going from first to third on Vinnie Pasquantino’s tiebreaking double to left-center field against Jakob Junis.
Jensen then gave Kansas City some presumed insurance with his two-run homer in the eighth off Texas’ Chris Martin for a 6-3 lead.
Danny Jansen’s RBI double got the Rangers within two runs in the eighth.
The Rangers wasted no time getting to the Royals’ Seth Lugo to start the game. With one out in the bottom of the first, Jung sent a towering drive into the left field seats.
Texas made it 3-0 in the fourth thanks to some shoddy Royals defense. Burger singled and advanced on Garcia’s error on Duran’s grounder. Burger then scored via Jansen’s ground out and Duran came home on Nicky Lopez’s single.
Lugo allowed three runs — one earned — and six hits while striking out six without a walk.
Peyton Gray (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win for Texas.
