Royals 1 - 3 Rangers
Final
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Profar's blast leads Rangers over Royals

Jun 3, 2013 - 12:35 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Jurickson Profar's solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Texas Rangers to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals in the rubber match of a three-game set on Sunday.

After Kansas City tied the score at 1-1 in the top of the eighth, Profar delivered the decisive blow with two outs and no one on off J.C. Gutierrez (0-1). Elvis Andrus followed with a single, then stole second and scored an insurance run on David Murphy's single up the middle.

"I was trying to go with the sinker and I just left the ball up, and he hit it," Gutierrez said. "I was feeling pretty good. I was making my pitches. I just made that one mistake and I paid for it."

Profar and Nelson Cruz had two hits apiece for Texas, which got seven scoreless innings from starter Yu Darvish. The right-hander allowed just three hits and fanned six, upping his major league-best strikeout total to 111.

Tanner Scheppers (4-0) pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning to earn the win.

Ervin Santana went seven innings for Kansas City, yielding just one unearned run on three hits and two walks. He has pitched at least six innings in all 11 starts this season.

"He knows us pretty well," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Santana. "In certain counts, you'd think he might throw a fastball, and he threw a changeup. Then you think you're looking for a changeup, and he threw a slider."

Andrus led off the bottom of the first with a routine grounder to shortstop, but the throw by Alcides Escobar went past Eric Hosmer at first base and into the stands, allowing Andrus to take second. Andrus then tagged up on Murphy's flyout to center and scored on a Lance Berkman RBI grounder back to Santana.

Kansas City loaded the bases before Darvish had retired a batter in the top of the second, but the visitors would come away empty. The Rangers' Craig Gentry gunned down Billy Butler at the plate following Jeff Francoeur's lineout to center for the first two outs. After George Kottaras reached base on a strikeout and passed ball to re-load the bases, Chris Getz lined out to end the threat.

Darvish gave up just one hit over his last five innings of work, while Santana had a no-hitter going until Cruz broke it up with a single in the fourth.

Neal Cotts replaced Darvish to start the eighth and promptly gave up a leadoff double to Alex Gordon. Escobar moved Gordon to third with a sacrifice bunt and Hosmer brought him home with a chopper to third, knotting the game for the time being.

Game Notes

Joe Nathan picked up his 17th save of the season after retiring the side in order in the ninth ... Texas improved to 18-8 at home ... Gordon and Mike Moustakas had two hits apiece for Kansas City, which had just five as a team. Moustakas broke out of an 0-for-9 slump with his second-inning single ... Butler drew three walks.






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