Rangers use long ball to defeat Royals, snap skid

The Texas Rangers banged three home runs to defeat the host Kansas City Royals 6-1 and snap a five-game losing streak Wednesday night. Ronald Guzman had three RBIs for Texas, hitting one of the homers.

Mike Minor (4-3) struggled through five innings but wiggled out of enough trouble to earn the victory. He gave up just one run on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Minor stranded runners in scoring position in every inning but the third. Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez (0-5) allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up a two-run home run to the second batter he faced (Willie Calhoun), and another to the last batter he faced (Guzman). He is now winless in his last 11 starts dating back to last September.

Nomar Mazara tied a career high with four hits for Texas. Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus was placed on the injured list due to right hamstring tightness. He was replaced on the roster by Calhoun, who had a .365/.500/.692 slash line in his last 16 games for Triple-A Nashville.

Calhoun left little doubt he belonged in the big leagues when he hit a two-run home run in his first major league at-bat of the season with nobody out in the first. The Royals answered with a run in the bottom of the first. Nicky Lopez stroked a double to left-centre and advanced to third on a passed ball. He scored on Adalberto Mondesi's RBI single.

The Rangers added a run in the fourth. Logan Forsythe walked with two outs, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Guzman's RBI single. Minor worked around trouble throughout his outing. Counting the first inning after Mondesi's RBI hit, he faced runners on second and third with one out three times in the first four innings. Each time he got out of the jam without allowing a run. He also faced first and second with no outs in the fifth but got out of it.

Guzman sent Lopez to the showers with a sixth-inning blast to left centre. Shin-Soo Choo's homer in the ninth gave Texas its final run.

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