ARLINGTON, Texas (May 30) \u2014 The Texas Rangers<\/a> used a walk-off single by Ezequiel Duran<\/a><\/strong> to sail to a 7\u20136 win over the Kansas City Royals<\/a> Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 32,270. It was the second walk-off win for the Rangers this year with the first coming on May 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> thanks to a single by Danny Jansen<\/a><\/strong>. With a quick turnaround, the Rangers will go for the sweep in a Sunday matinee with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-hander Michael Wacha<\/a><\/strong> (4\u20132, 2.69 ERA) will go up against fellow righty Jack Leiter<\/a><\/strong> (2\u20134, 4.75 ERA)<\/p>\n The Rangers broke the ice in the bottom of the first against right-hander Seth Lugo<\/a><\/strong>. With one out in the inning, Josh Jung<\/a><\/strong> blasted the first pitch he saw to left for a solo shot, his seventh of the season.<\/p>\n The Rangers stretched the lead to 3\u20130 in the bottom of the fourth. Jake Burger<\/a><\/strong> led off with a single up the middle, and Duran followed by reaching on a fielder’s choice executed by Maikel Garcia<\/a><\/strong> at third. Burger advanced to second on a throwing error by Garcia on the same play.<\/p>\n Up next was Jansen, who plated Burger with a soft groundout to third. That brought up Nicky Lopez<\/a><\/strong>. He drove in Duran with a single up the middle.<\/p>\n The Royals took control in the top of the seventh against reliever Tyler Alexander<\/a><\/strong>. Isaac Collins<\/a><\/strong> led off with a ground-rule double that trickled down the line in right. Two batters later, Nick Loftin<\/a><\/strong> entered as a pinch-hitter for Kyle Isbel<\/a><\/strong>. Collins advanced to third on a single to left. He quickly scored thanks to a single to left by Carter Jensen<\/a><\/strong>, prompting Rangers manager Skip Schumaker<\/a> <\/strong>to bring in Jakob Junis<\/a><\/strong> to relieve Alexander.<\/p>\n The first hitter Junis faced was Bobby Witt Jr.<\/a><\/strong>, who scored Loftin with a line-drive single to left. Jensen scored, moments later, courtesy of a single up the middle by Garcia. That brought up Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a><\/strong>, who gave the Royals a 4\u20133 lead by scoring Witt with a double to left.<\/p>\n The Royals added two more insurance runs in the top of the eighth with reliever Chris Martin<\/a><\/strong> on the mound. He opened the inning by issuing a walk to Collins. After Lane Thomas<\/a><\/strong> flied to right and Loftin lined to center, Jensen launched a 2\u20131 pitch over the wall in left for his seventh long ball of the year.<\/p>\n The Rangers scored another run in the bottom of the eighth off reliever Daniel Lynch IV<\/a><\/strong>. Burger opened the frame with a double to left and Duran drew a free pass. After Sam Haggerty<\/a><\/strong> flied to right, Jansen drove in both runners with a double to left.<\/p>\n The Rangers inched closer in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff homer to right by Joc Pederson<\/a><\/strong> against reliever Lucas Erceg<\/a><\/strong>. It was his eighth of the year.<\/p>\n They weren’t finished yet, however. Jung reached on a single that Witt bobbled at short. Up next was Brandon Nimmo<\/a><\/strong>. He moved Jung to second with a single back to Erceg who had trouble making the throw to first. Jung crossed the plate on a single to right by Burger to tie the game at six all. Duran followed by scoring Nimmo with a single that dropped right in front of Jac Caglianone<\/a><\/strong> in right to win the game. Nimmo raced home to a dog pile of his teammates waiting to greet him, as well as Duran.<\/p>\n The Rangers found themselves behind on Saturday. They didn’t throw in the towel, however. They kept scoring thanks to Pederson’s dinger in the ninth and a couple of miscues by the Royals’ infield. The cherry on top was Duran’s hit in the first walk-off plate appearance of his career.<\/p>\n The Rangers lost their balance a little in the seventh on the RBI hits by Jensen, Witt, and Pasquantino. Jensen also had his homer in the eighth off Martin.<\/p>\n Rangers starter Kumar Rocker<\/a><\/strong> took a no-decision, despite firing six scoreless innings. His line was 3 H, 3 BB, 2 SO, 85 pitches\/52 strikes. He lowered his season ERA to 3.54. Saturday marked his third scoreless outing in his last four games, sporting a 1.52 ERA over that stretch to improve his season ERA from 5.01. He put together a 1-2-3 first inning, having entered the day with the highest 1st-inning ERA (11.00) in the majors. Rocker maneuvered out of a bases-loaded jam in the third by inducing a one-pitch groundout from Salvador Perez<\/a>. <\/strong>He struck out two batters, which matched a season low and marked the fewest punch-outs in a scoreless start of six or more frames by a Ranger since Nathan Eovaldi<\/a><\/strong> on July 18, 2023 against the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>. Rocker now has a 2.71 ERA in 14 career home starts, marking\u00a0<\/b>the lowest ERA by a Rangers pitcher through his first 14 career starts at home in club history and besting the previous mark of 3.03 set by Jose Guzman<\/a><\/strong> from 1985-86.<\/p>\n Righty Peyton Gray<\/a><\/strong> came in to pitch the ninth. He earned his first win in his major league career, surrendering one hit and striking out two.<\/p>\n Royals starter Seth Lugo posted a quality start but did not factor into the decision. His line was 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R-1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR, 1 HB, 90 pitches\/64 strikes. His eight quality starts on the season are second-most by a Royals hurler behind Michael Wacha<\/a><\/strong>, who has nine. Lugo yielded the one-out solo dinger to Jung in the bottom of the first, which is only the fourth long ball he has allowed in 2026. Lugo entered Saturday with the fourth-best HR\/9 ratio among qualified AL pitchers (0.42). He has allowed one home run in three consecutive starts since May 18. Three of the four homers against Lugo have been hit in the opening stanza.<\/p>\n The loss and blown save went to Erceg. He allowed three runs, all earned, on five hits, including Pederson’s blast in the ninth. He now owns a record of 3\u20133 with an ERA of 6.33 and five blown saves.<\/p>\n After the game, Schumaker discussed what his thought process was in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday. “With the top of the order coming up, we knew we had a good chance of making something happen,” he said. “Joc (Pederson) has had four or five home runs in the last five games. We had the momentum. Even when we were down one run, we felt good about it. Josh Jung had his hit and there was some luck with (Brandon) Nimmo. (Jake) Burger and Zeke (Ezequiel Duran) had their big hits. We used the whole field. Nobody tried to be the hero even though there ended up being two heroes. It was a good day for us.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\nJung Keeps Going<\/h4>\n
Royals Leapfrog Rangers<\/h4>\n
Rangers Walk it Off<\/h4>\n
What Went Right for the Rangers<\/h4>\n
What Went Wrong for the Rangers<\/h4>\n
Tough Luck for Rocker<\/h4>\n
Quality Start for Lugo<\/h4>\n
Schumaker’s Postgame Comments<\/h4>\n
Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>