Rangers sweep Royals, increase lead on Astros to six

This was a good weekend for the Texas Rangers. Nomar Mazara and Mitch Moreland each hit two-run homers as the Rangers beat the Royals 5-3 Sunday to sweep the four-game series. Texas increased its American League West lead on the Houston Astros to six games. The Astros were swept in Detroit this weekend, including an 11-0 loss Sunday.

Pitching: Lucas Harrell, in his first start with the Rangers since coming over in a trade with the Braves earlier this week, held the Royals to three runs on four hits over six innings. Eric Hosmer homered off the left-field foul pole with two outs in the first. Harrell held Kansas City scoreless for the next three innings before Drew Butera led off the fifth with a homer to right. Jarrod Dyson followed with a walk and eventually scored on Alides Escobar’s single to right to pull the Royals to within 4-3.

Harrell struck out two and walked three to earn his first win with the Rangers. Tony Barnette worked a perfect seventh and Keone Kela and Jake Diekman combined for a perfect eighth before Sam Dyson closed it out with a perfect ninth to earn his 22nd save.

Hitting: Nomar Mazara’s two-run homer gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the first inning. Delino DeShields led off with a single before Mazara’s blast. Mitch Moreland’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Texas a 4-1 lead. Moreland singled to start the seventh and scored on Hanser Alberto’s double to the left-field corner to give the Rangers a 5-3 lead.

Notable: Adrian Beltre tied Babe Ruth for No. 43 all-time with 2,873 hits with a single in the fourth ... Moreland has five homers in his past six games.

This story was originally published July 31, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Rangers sweep Royals, increase lead on Astros to six."