Rangers 4 - 0 Royals
Final
  for this game

Rangers go with Chi Chi against Royals

Jun 5, 2015 - 2:18 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Chi Chi Gonzalez will try to build off his successful major league debut on Friday night as the Texas Rangers kick off a three-game set with the Kansas City Royals.

Gonzalez, a 2013 first-round pick, was solid in an 8-0 victory over Boston on Saturday. He did not allow a hit until the sixth inning and gave up just two hits over his 5 2/3 innings. The 23-year-old did walk five batters and struck out two.

The right-hander posted his scoreless debut after going 3-5 with a 4.15 earned run average with Triple-A Round Rock.

"He settled in and did exactly what we saw in spring training, threw strikes," Texas manager Jeff Banister said of Gonzalez, the 23rd overall pick in 2013 out of Oral Roberts.

The Rangers picked up a 2-1 victory in 11 innings on Thursday over the Chicago White Sox to win the rubber match of a three-game series. Shin-Soo Choo drove in the winning run with an extra-inning single.

Prince Fielder drove in the other run and Tanner Scheppers got the win for a scoreless inning of relief for the Rangers, who have won five of their last six. Yovani Gallardo allowed a run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in six innings.

"Gallardo grinded through," Texas manager Jeff Banister said.

Edinson Volquez looks to extend a five-start unbeaten streak tonight as he starts for the Royals.

The Royals have won each of Volquez's past five starts, with the right-hander going 2-0 since his last loss on May 2. His unbeaten streak includes a no- decision against Texas on May 12, when he allowed four runs over five innings in his second career start against the Rangers.

Volquez then won back-to-back starts after facing Texas prior to a no-decision last Friday against the Chicago Cubs. He yielded three runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out nine to just one walk.

The 31-year-old is 4-3 this year with a 2.95 ERA.

The Royals will be aiming to rebound from their first home series loss of the season as they dropped two of three to the visiting Cleveland Indians. They had been 7-0-1 in series at Kauffman Stadium, but lost Thursday's rubber match 6-2 in eight innings.

Chris Young failed to come through as the Indians knocked him around for six runs on eight hits in the first five frames. Lorenzo Cain hit a two-run homer in defeat.

"I wasn't as sharp as I wanted to be," Young said. "They were better than me tonight."

The tarps came out with one away in the bottom of the eighth, and the game was called less than an hour later. That left Kansas City with its seventh loss in nine games as the club sits a game back of Minnesota for first place in the AL Central.

The Royals won two of three over the hosting Rangers from May 12-14 and have won eight of the past 11 encounters overall. That includes four straight victories in Kansas City.






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