Rangers walk it off again to win third in row against Royals

The Texas Rangers, whose sky was falling just four days ago, claimed their second walk-off win in the past three games against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night at Globe Life Park.

Elvis Andrus’ single to the left-field corner easily scored Rougned Odor from second base to lift the Rangers to a 2-1 win in the bottom of the ninth inning. Thursday in the 13th inning, the Rangers beat the Royals 1-0 with walk-off single by Delino DeShields.

It’s the Rangers’ first three-game win streak of the season and follows their worst loss of the young season, 9-1 in Oakland to cap a 3-6 road trip.

“It feels amazing. It’s about winning, especially being able to win another series,” Andrus said. “We feel good. We were playing good baseball even before these last three games. We knew that as a team we were going to get back on track, especially our bullpen. We know it’s a long season and they’re going to do their job. They’re too good, too talented for whatever was happening. It’s pretty big for us mentally. We’re grinding every inning, every at-bat.”

Right-hander Nick Martinez, called up from Triple A Round Rock in place of A.J. Griffin, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list with gout in his left ankle, pitched his best game in the majors since 2015. He had a no-hitter through 5  1/3 innings and held the Royals to one run on four hits and a walk over seven innings. It’s just the fourth time a Rangers starter has gone seven or more innings.

“As good as I’ve seen him pitch,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Very aggressive with the fastball, fastball in, fastball away, seemed to work the fastball in all the quadrants. He moved the ball around and was as aggressive as I’ve seen him since early ’15.”

The last time Martinez went seven innings in the majors was June 14, 2015.

Martinez was one of the last players cut from the 2017 Opening Day roster. The club preferred to keep Martinez in a starter’s role rather than keep him in the bullpen as a long reliever. It paid off Saturday night.

“Honestly, it’s always disappointing when you don’t make the team. It’s something I had to deal with in previous years,” said Martinez, who struck out three. “I tried to put myself in a good spot mentally and physically to be prepared for whatever. I try to control what I can control and the only thing I can control is to make sure I’m ready.”

Martinez worked aggressively and quickly, facing one over the minimum through 5  1/3 . The Royals singled three times in the sixth to tie it at 1-1, but Martinez forced one of his nine groundouts to end the inning and preserve the tie.

Mike Napoli’s opposite-field homer to right gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the second, but Royals starter Ian Kennedy was as every bit as good as Martinez. He held the Rangers to four hits over seven innings.

The much-maligned Rangers bullpen was solid again. Alex Claudio and Matt Bush pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth. Bush earned his first win of the year.

“Our pitching was amazing,” Andrus said. “The bullpen’s been amazing. Nick threw amazing ball for us today. Every time you see our pitchers lock it in out there as an offense and a defense you’re just trying to put some runs on the board.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Rangers walk it off again to win third in row against Royals."