Marcus Semien went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs, and Ezequiel Duran hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning that blew the game open for the Texas Rangers to beat the Kansas City Royals 12-3 and complete the road sweep on Wednesday.
Though Semien’s streak of consecutive games with a home run ended at three, his leadoff single to open Wednesday’s series finale set the tone. Semien moved along to score the game’s first run, then came back to the plate to drive in Leody Taveras as part of a two-run second inning.
Semien drove Taveras in on another single in the fourth, and the resulting 5-1 lead gave Rangers left-handed starter Martin Perez all the run support he needed to pick up the win.
Perez (3-1) pitched 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and allowed only one run through his first five innings of work on a Bobby Witt Jr. home run. Perez finished with three runs and eight hits allowed.
Kansas City plated two in the sixth inning on a Franmil Reyes sacrifice fly to score Vinnie Pasquantino, then Matt Duffy’s RBI single to drive in Salvador Perez.
The Royals’ rally effort was fleeting, however. Semien led off the next inning reaching on MJ Melendez’s catcher interference and scored from second on Adolis Garcia’s single to center.
With Nathaniel Lowe on from a walk and Garcia aboard, Jonah Heim’s single loaded the bases to set the scene for Duran’s game-altering double and 9-3 advantage.
Texas tacked on three more runs in the ninth when Heim drove in Lowe and Josh Jung with a three-run home run, the catcher’s third round-tripper of the season.
Heim finished the day 2-for-4 with a walk. Jung, who went 1-for-4 with a walk, extended his hitting streak to eight games with a third-inning single.
Semien ran his hitting streak to six games and closed the series 6-for-11 with six RBIs.
Brady Singer (1-2) took the loss for Kansas City, which has dropped 9 of 10, including six straight.
Texas, meanwhile, picked up its fourth consecutive win, its third series win in a row and its first sweep since the season-opening matchup with Philadelphia.
–Field Level Media
