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Rangers hit five homers, top KC

Apr 23, 2011 - 5:50 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Mike Napoli, David Murphy and Mitch Moreland each hit a two-run home run as Texas outslugged Kansas City, 11-6, in the first of three between the clubs.

Adrian Beltre and Ian Kinsler added solo shots for the Rangers, who had dropped four of five coming in. Michael Young finished 3-for-5 with two RBI.

"It's about confidence. We have confidence in what Derek (Holland) is doing. He ran into one bad inning, but it gave our offense a chance to open things up a little bit, which we did," Kinsler said about the offense turning it on late.

Derek Holland (3-1) worked seven innings for the win, charged with seven hits and five runs with nine strikeouts.

Brayan Pena slugged a three-run shot and Wilson Betemit drove in a pair of runs for the Royals, losers in four of their last six.

Jeff Francis (0-2) was torched in defeat for nine hits and six runs -- five earned -- over four-plus frames.

Four runs crossed the plate in the Rangers' third on Young's RBI triple and a run-scoring single from Beltre in advance of a two-run homer from Napoli for a 5-0 lead. It proved crucial to the home team, as KC struck back with five in the fourth to tie the game.

The Royals' first two men reached base on an infield single and walk, then Jeff Francoeur's double was followed by a Betemit single and it was 5-2. Two batters later a three-run blast to right from Pena pulled the visitors even.

Kinsler's solo shot in the home fourth put Texas back on top, then in the fifth Napoli walked ahead of Murphy's two-run homer for an 8-5 game.

Beltre deposited a pitch to right-center with two down in the sixth and Moreland added a two-run blast in the seventh to provide an 11-5 margin for the Rangers.

Two walks and a single loaded the bases with none out in the Kansas City eighth, then a Betemit sacrifice fly -- all off Pedro Strop -- reduced its margin to five.

That's as close as it got. Francoeur was thrown out trying to steal second, and Arthur Rhodes retired the next two batters to end the threat.

Darren Oliver turned in a scoreless ninth to wrap up the win.

"Their power guys hit a lot of fly balls tonight. They were able to get them up in the air and the wind just carried them," Francoeur said about the breeze blowing through the stadium. "We had a nice comeback there in the middle, swung the bats well but we couldn't get enough runs."

Texas got on the board in the first, when Kinsler reached on an error, moved up to second on a groundout and scored on a Young base hit.

Game Notes

KC outfielder Alex Gordon increased his career-best hit streak to 16 games by going 2-for-4...Young extended his hitting streak to 12 games...Betemit upped his run to 13 contests...The 11 runs were one off a season-high at home, a 12-5 decision over the Red Sox on April 2...Texas' season-best is 13 runs, in a 13-1 win at Baltimore on April 9...Prior to the contest, Rangers GM Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington presented AL championship rings to current Royals Francoeur and Matt Treanor...KC is the only team in the majors not to lose a series, winning three and tying three thus far.