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28-31 – Rangers close out May with 6-3 win to sweep Royals

The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Kansas City Royals scored three runs.

The Royals appear to have been just what the doctor ordered for a Rangers squad that had been having trouble making good on an alleged manageable portion of their schedule.

After dropping a four-game set three to one to the Houston Astros in the first leg of this final stint at home in May, the Rangers required a sweep of KC to come away with a winning homestand. That didn’t seem particularly likely considering the Rangers had gone just 4-9 against teams below them in the standings in their four most recent series, including two series losses to Houston bookending a disappointing series loss to Anaheim last weekend.

The prospect of a sweep seemed even less likely when you consider that the Rangers had won at least three games in a row just once this season and that came all the way back in early April when they swept the Seattle Mariners.

Nevertheless, the Royals were just the team for the job having dropped 15 of 25 games this month coming into the series while challenging the Detroit Tigers for the cellar in not only the American League Central but the American League overall.

After nearly blowing their chance at a sweep yesterday before a three-run ambush in the ninth inning produced their second walk-off win of the year, the Rangers opened up today’s finale on a mission by scoring four first inning runs.

Maybe Jack Leiter is the good luck charm for the first inning. In his last outing, a day after Texas was no-hit in the first game of this homestand, Leiter received eight runs of support in the first frame.

While that was halved today, it was no less welcome as the Rangers sent eight batters to plate and in between a Josh Jung double that started the rally with one out, and the Nicky Lopez strikeout to end it, every Ranger reached (or at least probably should have) with Ezequiel Duran tripling in two runs following a Jake Burger walk, Alejandro Osuna singling in a third run, and Kyle Higashioka doubling in Osuna to make it 4-0.

All of those runs came with two out because No. 3 hitter Brandon Nimmo was bafflingly called out by foul tip despite replay showing the ball hitting the fringe of his batting mitt. The replay center in New York chose to be kind to KC but the ball don’t lie.

With ample wiggle room to work with, Leiter turned to swing-and-miss stuff to collect ten strikeouts in his 5.2 innings of shutout ball. Leiter allowed just three hits and a couple of walks as he kept KC off the board. He potentially could have stayed in to collect a quality start but at 101 pitches, he was lifted after his second walk of the game in the top of the sixth.

Meanwhile, the Rangers had added to their lead in the fourth when Jung singled in a couple of runs with the bases loaded. Up 6-0, and with Leiter out, the bullpen ended up making things closer than it appeared by allowing a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth, but the Rangers had a fairly easy go of it today and get to leave the month of May on a positive note with that winning homestand.

Player of the Game: Leiter is certainly worthy after following up a couple of rough starts with a scoreless outing, but Jung was again a catalyst for the outburst from the lineup today, as he so often has been when Texas actually scores runs.

Today Jung went 2-for-4 with a walk, double, run scored, and two RBIs while hitting second in the lineup. The nice day at the plate elevated Jung to an impressive .316/.372/.495 slash line on the year while he also contributed his team-leading 23rd extra base hit with the first inning double.

Up Next: The Rangers open June on the road in St. Louis as they take on the Cardinals with RHP Jacob deGrom looking to move past a dinger-prone May opposite RHP Michael McGreevy for the NL squad.

The Monday evening first pitch from Busch Stadium is scheduled for 6:45 pm CDT and will be carried on the Rangers Sports Network.

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