Royals win second straight over Rangers, 7-4

Texas Rangers' Alberto Gonzalez (14) beats the tag at second base for the double against Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar (2) during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Arlington, Texas.
Texas Rangers' Alberto Gonzalez (14) beats the tag at second base for the double against Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar (2) during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Arlington, Texas.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Mike Moustakas homered, Billy Butler and Brayan Pena each drove in a pair of runs and the Kansas City Royals kept Texas' potent offense in check for a second straight game in a 7-4 win over the Rangers on Tuesday night.

The Royals took advantage of two throwing errors by Rangers starter Colby Lewis (3-3) to score five unearned runs in the first two innings.

Moustakas reached base for a 22nd consecutive game to help make a winner of Vin Mazzaro, who made his first start this season. Mazzaro allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked one.

Major League home run leader Josh Hamilton extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single and added a sacrifice fly.

Reliever Tim Collins struck out five of the six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings for the Royals, who swept the two-game series and sent Lewis to his third loss in May.

Lewis' throwing error on a comebacker to the mound by Eric Hosmer put runners on second and third with no outs in the first. Jarrod Dyson scored on Butler's fielder's choice and Lewis retired Alex Gordon on a flyout to left field before Jeff Francoeur doubled and Moustakas was hit by a pitch. Pena followed with a two-run single to put the Royals up 3-0.

Moustakas came around to score on Chris Getz's run-scoring base hit.

Kansas City sent nine hitters to the plate in the inning.

Dyson led off the second with a single and advanced to second when Lewis bounced a pickoff attempt short and wide of the bag. Butler hit a double to score Dyson and put Kansas City ahead 5-0.

The run support was plenty for Mazzaro and the bullpen, which held the majors' top-scoring team to one run in four innings. Mazzaro had made six starts with Triple-A Omaha this season, going 1-0 with a 4.37 ERA. Before his promotion May 8, Mazzaro had allowed just two runs on eight hits in 13 innings in his last two starts.

David Murphy and Mitch Moreland had one RBI each for the Rangers and Brandon Snyder homered in the ninth.

Dyson reached base three times for Kansas City, including a double to lead off the game.

Notes: Rangers OF Nelson Cruz, who had home runs in consecutive games Sunday and Monday after hitting only two in the first 34 games, sat out Tuesday. He was the only Ranger to have played in the field in all of the team's 35 games. ... Rangers SS Elvis Andrus has hit safely in 16 of the past 19 games after failing to reach base as a pinch-hitter in the ninth and raised his average from .235 to .326. ... Moustakas is hitting .348 since Aug. 17, 2011, the third-highest mark among players with 250 plate appearances behind Detroit's Miguel Cabrera (.358) and New York's Derek Jeter (.352). ... Radio broadcaster Eric Nadel, who has called Rangers games for 34 years, will become the 15th inductee into the team's Hall of Fame on Aug. 11, officials announced. ... Among AL teams, only Kansas City's Denny Matthew currently has a longer tenure with one team than Nadel, 44 years. ... The victory marked the Royals' first two-game sweep of the Rangers since 1977.