Three late runs, including two in the ninth, send Royals past Rangers

Pitchers: Yu Darvish left after only one 12-pitch inning with stiffness in his right throwing elbow. He allowed a leadoff single but then forced a groundout, a flyout and got a strikeout to end the inning. Phil Klein stuck out two in one perfect inning. Roman Mendez, Jon Edwards and Spencer Patton each had scoreless innings while holding hitters to a combined two hits and one walk.

Hitters: Jared Hoying and Robinson Chirinos each had two singles. Ryan Rua drove in two runs with a triple to deep left in the third to give Texas a 3-0 lead. Carlos Peguero doubled for the second consecutive game. Adam Rosales was 0 for 3 with four runners left on base.

Notable: Three of the Rangers four runs came with two outs...Manager Jeff Banister noted that 10 of the 26 outs Rangers pitchers made came on three or fewer pitches, something he and pitching coach Mike Maddux have been pushing for...The five candidates for the left field job who played in Thursday’s game combined to go 4 for 11 with two runs and two RBIs.

This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Three late runs, including two in the ninth, send Royals past Rangers."