Kyle Gibson strong as Rangers beat Royals again

Kyle Gibson pitched seven innings of two-hit ball as the host Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 8-0 in Arlington on Saturday afternoon.

Joey Gallo paced the Rangers offense, finishing the day 2-for-3 with two home runs and 5 RBI.

The Rangers, who have now won four of their past six, will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field.

By winning Saturday, the Rangers assured themselves of their first series win since sweeping Houston on May 21-23.

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Kansas City went with a bullpen game with Kyle Zimmer opening up and throwing 22 pitches (two walks, two strikeouts) in the first before turning the game over to Kris Bubic for the second.

Things did not go well for Bubic (2-3) as he hit the first batter he faced and gave up three runs on 40 pitches while only recording two outs before being pulled himself.

Nick Solak reached on a bunt with Solak and Willie Calhoun scoring on a one-out double from Jose Trevino. With two outs, Bubic walked Nate Lowe then gave up a run-scoring single to Adolis Garcia.

Bubic then walked Joey Gallo to load the bases and was lifted for Ervin Santana who got out of the jam by striking out Eli White.

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Calhoun, who was struck in the forearm, stayed in the game initially but was pulled for his next time up.

The Rangers eventually got to Santana as well, scoring three more in the fourth. With two out and Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Garcia on base, Gallo hit a three-run shot to right making it 6-0.

That was plenty for Gibson (6-0) to work with as the Royals did not put a runner on until Ryan O’Hearn led off the fifth with a single.

The Royals did end up loading the bases with no outs in the fifth, but Gibson worked his way out of it. After striking out Jarrod Dyson, Michael A. Taylor grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The only two hits Gibson gave up came in the fifth. He ended up going seven innings, striking out 10.

–Field Level Media