Well Kansas City has officially been swept for the first time this season, at the hands of the Texas Rangers. Trailing 8-4 heading into the ninth, the Royals managed to put up a three spot and pull within 8-7, but the margin was too big as Kansas City fell to 12-10 this season and now faces a three game losing streak after the weekend in Arlington.
Bruce Chen took his first loss of the season as he fell to 3-1, on a day in which he gave up six runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings. As has been much of the weekend, it turned into a longball derby in Texas, as Chen gave up three home runs today, including an impressive solo homerun by Adrian Beltre in which he fell to a knee on the swing. If that isn't an indication for how inflated offensive numbers can be in Texas, I don't know what is.
The Royals kept chase with three home runs of their own, a solo home run by Jeff Francoeur, his team leading fourth of the year and two by Mike Aviles. Aviles hit a solo home run in the fifth off Rangers starter C.J. Wilson, and then a three-run homer in the top of the ninth off reliever Brett Tomko. Aviles, who went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI, now has three home runs on the young season.
Wilson Betemit, Alcides Escobar, and Chris Getz each collected two hits today, while Alex Gordon went 1-for-4, extending his current hitting streak to 18 games.
The Rangers improved to 14-7, as Wilson picked up his third win. Kansas City has an off day tomorrow before they head to Cleveland where Luke Hochevar (2-2 5.12 ERA) will face Justin Masterson (4-0 1.71 ERA) on Tuesday. It will be part of a three-game series as the Royals look to close a 1.5 game gap between the Royals and Indians in the Central Division standings.