Royals stop slide with 4-3 victory against Rangers

KANSAS CITY (AP) - Salvador Perez homered and drove in three runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Perez, who had three hits, went deep in the third with Alex Gordon aboard. His two-out double in the first scored Gordon, who had singled and swiped second.

Yordano Ventura allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits in 61/3 innings for Kansas City. The right-hander, who was skipped on his previous turn in the rotation due to a sore back, struck out seven and walked four.

Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland combined for 22/3 hitless innings after Ventura departed. Holland struck out two in a perfect ninth, earning his 41st save in 43 chances.

Colby Lewis (9-12) pitched seven innings for Texas, yielding four runs and nine hits. The right-hander had thrown a complete game in winning each of his previous two road starts.

Carlos Peguero, who was just brought up from Triple-A Omaha, doubled in the fifth and scored on Mike Moustakas' single to give the Royals a 4-0 advantage.

Texas responded with a run in the sixth on Adrian Beltre's groundout. Tomas Telis and Michael Choice each had an RBI single in the seventh, cutting the Royals' lead to one run.

Up Next

Rangers: LHP Derek Holland will make his first start of the season after having knee surgery on Jan. 10. He went 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA in six rehab starts in the minors

Royals: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-10) goes for Kansas City. Guthrie is 2-0 with a 4.29 ERA in his last three starts.

Trainers Room

Rangers: RHP Miles Mikolas, who was skipped his previous start with shoulder fatigue, has not progressed and may not pitch Thursday in his next scheduled start.

Royals: DH Josh Willingham has not played since Friday because of a bad back. He will try to swing the bat today.