Corey Seager homered to help the Texas Rangers defeat the host Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Thursday in a game that was delayed two hours and twenty minutes because of rain and threatening weather.
Ezequiel Duran was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Brandon Nimmo 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Rangers, who won the rubber match and have won three of their last four to get back to .500 for the first time since May 1.
Jake Burger went 2-for-3 and is 11-for-19 against the Royals this season.
Jac Caglianone was 2-for-4 with a run scored for Kansas City.
Texas reliever Jacob Latz (2-1) struck out three over the final two hitless innings to record the victory.
Rangers starter Kumar Rocker gave up two runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 83 pitches.
Kansas City starter Michael Wacha (4-5) allowed four runs and nine hits in seven innings with a walk and two strikeouts.
Nimmo’s two-out RBI double in the first gave Texas a 1-0 lead. It scored Seager, who had singled, from first.
Elias Diaz’s squeeze bunt in the second inning made it 2-0.
Seager’s home run leading off the third ran the score to 3-0. He sent Wacha’s first-pitch changeup 391 feet over the right-field fence for his ninth homer.
The Royals pulled to within 3-2 with two runs in the fourth.
With the bases loaded and none out, Michael Massey grounded into a 4-6-3 double play for the first run. Kameron Misner’s RBI single in the ensuing at-bat made it a one-run game.
Evan Carter stretched the lead to 4-2 in the sixth with a run-scoring single. The Rangers made two outs at third base in the inning.
Nimmo was thrown out on a fielder’s choice after leading off with a double and Burger was gunned down trying to advance from first on Carter’s single.
Kansas City outfielder Kyle Isbel was placed on the 10-day injured list after being diagnosed with left plantar fasciitis.
