Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

42-36, 17-22 Away

Final
0 - 6

Texas Rangers

36-40, 19-19 Home

Gray pitches 2-hit ball over 5 innings and Langford hits grand slam to lift Rangers over Royals 6-0

Gray (3-3) gave up back-to-back third-inning singles while throwing 51 of 72 pitches for strikes. He gave nine earned runs and 11 hits in three innings-plus last Monday in a 14-2 loss to the New York Mets.

“Terrific job. Good stuff,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of Gray. “It’s good to see him back on track.”

Langford, a 22-year-old rookie who debuted on opening day, connected off a 2-2 slider from Angel Zerpa for the Rangers’ first grand slam this season. Langford is hitting .299 with 18 RBI in 21 games since returning from a hamstring strain that caused him to miss most of May.

“That was pretty cool,” Langford said. "I even forgot it was a grand slam.”

World Series champion Texas has won three straight following a five-game losing streak. The Rangers have scored at least five runs in four consecutive games for the first time this season.

Kansas City, which tied a season low with three hits, has lost 10 of 13, scoring 36 runs in those games.

Josh Smith hit a solo homer in the fourth off Michael Wacha (4-6) and Adolis García hit a run-scoring comebacker in the eighth as Marcus Semien slid home ahead of Zerpa’s throw.

Jacob Latz, David Robertson and Brock Burke finished the three-hitter, just the third shutout against the Royals this season. Seventeen consecutive Kansas City batters were retired between Adam Frazier’s third-inning single and pinch-hitter Nelson Velázquez’s one-out single in the ninth.

Wacha gave up three hits and one walk in five innings. It was his first start since May 31, when his left foot was fractured by a comebacker on his fourth pitch against San Diego.

“What a competitor,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of the 32-year-old, who pitched at Texas A&M. “I mean, he’s pitching on a hurt foot, battling back this whole time without it really being a hundred percent. To come out here and pitch that good against that team is really impressive.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: 3B Josh Jung (fractured right wrist) will accompany the team on next week’s trip and could be ready to play by midweek.

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer is to make his season debut in Sunday’s series finale. Scherzer, 39, hasn’t pitched for the Rangers since Game 3 of the World Series last fall. RHP Alec Marsh (5-4, 4.37 ERA) starts for the Royals, who will try to avoid being swept for the first time this season, after allowing a career-high seven runs in three innings in a loss at Oakland on Tuesday.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Texas Rangers?

TV Channel: Royals at Rangers 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on ESPN+.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Rangers: 53.9%

Royals: 46.1%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Pasquantino struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Witt Jr. fouled out to first.
	9th Inning	Velázquez singled to left.
	9th Inning	Velázquez hit for Frazier
	9th Inning	Hampson struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Burke relieved Robertson

Statistics

KC		$https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/tex.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=origin$ TEX
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
6	Ground Balls	10
9	Strikeouts	7
0	Runs Batted In	6
0	Sacrifice Hit	1
3	Hits	7
0	Stolen Bases	1
0	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
0	Runs	6
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
30	At Bats	31
0	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	1
4	Runners Left On Base	13
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	0
15	Fly Balls	15
0	Caught Stealing	0
114	Pitches	132
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
3	Total Bases	13
30	Plate Appearances	35
0.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
0	Extra Base Hits	2
-1.2	Runs Created	3.9
.100	Batting Average	.226
1.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.100	Slugging Percentage	.419
.000	Secondary Average	.323
.100	On Base Percentage	.294
.200	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.713
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.7
-1.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.0
3.0	Batter Rating	38.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	15.5
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.80	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.77
.000	Isolated Power	.194
0.00	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.43
.000	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.086
-.100	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.097
0.0	Runs Produced	12.0
0.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.1	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.1	Balls In Play Average	0.2
56.0	MLB Rating	84.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0