Rangers Bow Down before Royals in Series Opener

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

June 17, 2025

Royals 6, Rangers 1

ARLINGTON, Texas (June 17) — The Texas Rangers dropped their series opener to the Kansas City Royals, 6–1, Tuesday evening. A two-homer performance by Salvador Perez helped the Royals get the best of the home-nine on a warm evening in the DFW Metroplex. The Rangers will aim to even this three-game set on Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm Central. It will be a duel of lefties as Kris Bubic (5–4, 1.92 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Royals, while Patrick Corbin (4–5, 3.66 ERA) will get the ball for the Rangers.

Milestone for Perez

The Royals broke the seal in the top of the first against Rangers righty Jack Leiter. A one-out double by Bobby Witt Jr. set the table for Maikel Garcia, who plated Witt with a single to left.

Two batters later, Perez made it 3–0 Royals with a two-run blast to left, his seventh of the season.

The Royals stretched it to 4–0 in the top of the fourth. Vinnie Pasquantino drew a walk to start the frame. Perez followed with a sharp double up the middle to drive in Pasquatino.

The Rangers got one back in the bottom of the fourth against Royals righty Seth Lugo. Corey Seager led off with a double to right. Later in the inning, Alejandro Osuna scored Seager with a single to right marking his first career RBI.

The Royals scored two more runs later in the game, both coming on solo home runs. The first was by Witt to left in the top of the fifth, his ninth of the year. The second dinger was hit by Perez, his second of the evening and eighth of the season.

Perez now has 18 multi-homer games in his career, which is the most in Royals history, surpassing third baseman George Brett, who had 17.

What Went Right for the Royals

It’s always special whenever a player gets to stand alone in an offensive category for the franchise he plays for. Such was the case for Salvador Perez on Tuesday when he passed George Brett with his two home runs. They also had Witt’s blast in the fifth and his double in the first. They kept finding ways to get to Leiter and their efforts paid off.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

The only setback the Royals had came in the bottom of the fourth. Osuna has been up with the Rangers for a couple weeks, but that first RBI was hard to come by until Tuesday. That was really the only mistake Lugo made all night.

Leiter Plays with Matches

Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter suffered the loss in his second consecutive start, allowing a season-high six earned runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. His line was 2 BB, 4 SO, 3 HR, 94 pitches/57 strikes. He yielded three home runs, a single-game career high.

Tuesday also signaled the most homers against any Rangers pitcher this year and most since Cody Bradford allowed three blasts on September 11, 2024 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Leiter surrendered three runs on three hits in the top of the first, the most runs he’s allowed in an opening frame in his 18 career starts. He owns a 9.31 ERA in his last two starts. He now owns a record of 4–4 with an ERA of 4,40.

Lugo’s Evening

Royals starter Seth Lugo made his 13th start of the season and picked up his fourth win after tossing six innings of one-run ball. His final line was 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 96 pitches/62 strikes. Lugo’s season-high nine strikeouts on Tuesday were his most since September 20, 2024 when he had 10 strikeouts against the New York Yankees. Lugo’s record now sits at 4–5 with an ERA 3.05.

The lone run he permitted came on the Osuna RBI single with two outs in the fourth. He held the Rangers hitless over their last seven at-bats against him following the Osuna knock. Lugo exited with a 6–1 lead, signifying his second-highest run support total in a single start in ‘25 and equaling his run support total from his last four starts combined.

Bochy’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy gave his thoughts on Leiter’s performance. “He made some mistakes in the heart of the plate,” Bochy said. “The two-run homer there in the first inning, he didn’t get that fastball where he wanted, it was down the middle. The fastball is fine, as long as you do locate it, and when that doesn’t happen, then you’re probably going to give up damage. That’s what happened to him tonight. When you see the slug against him, it’s against mistakes.”

Leiter’s Postgame Comments

After Bochy’s departure from the interview room, Leiter took his seat to reflect on his start. “I think it’s just about making pitches, when you have to make pitches,” Leiter said. “The big counts, the guys in the lineup that could hurt you, there’s a lot of situations during a game where you got to make the pitch, and I just didn’t do it. There’s not really one exact thing, but the last couple games — results wise — didn’t go my way, and I’m going to figure it out and be better for the long run.”