By Canadian Press

Semien, Gray send Rangers to 8-3 win over struggling Royals

Jun 28, 2022 | 9:50 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Marcus Semien homered and drove in four runs, Jon Gray pitched seven effective innings and the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 on Tuesday night.

Corey Seager hit a two-run double as the Rangers handed last-place Kansas City its fourth consecutive defeat. They’ve outscored the Royals 18-7 in the first two games of the series.

Semien had three hits and scored three times. His three-run homer off starter Jonathan Heasley made it 4-0 in the third.

Gray (4-3) matched his longest outing of the season. He allowed one run and five hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. The right-hander managed only one 1-2-3 inning, but kept working out of trouble and let only two runners reach second base.

Heasley (1-4) gave up seven runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.

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Touted prospect Vinnie Pasquantino went 0 for 4 in his major league debut for the Royals. He hit a hard grounder in his first at-bat but it resulted in a 4-6-3 double play.

Adolis Garcia’s two-out double in the first scored Semien.

Josh Smith and Seager singled to start the third before Semien drove a 2-2 pitch into the bullpen in left field.

Bobby Witt Jr. put the Royals on the board in the bottom half with an RBI single.

The Rangers added three more runs in the fourth. They had the bases loaded with one out when Seager lined one into left-center, scoring two. Semien added a sacrifice fly to make it 7-1, chasing Heasley.

Kyle Isbel launched his second career home run and first this season for Kansas City in the eighth. Andrew Benintendi had a sacrifice fly.

UP NEXT

The finale of the three-game series is Wednesday afternoon. RHP Dane Dunning (1-5, 4.17 ERA) pitches for Texas against RHP Zack Greinke (1-4, 4.68).

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David Smale, The Associated Press