Moustakas hits grand slam in Royals' victory

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Mike Moustakas hit a grand slam in a seven-run first inning Monday as the Kansas City Royals outslugged the Texas Rangers 11-7.

Alex Gordon, who also homered, and Eric Hosmer each had three of the Royals' 15 hits.

Rangers starter Lisalverto Bonilla retired only one of eight batters he faced before being pulled after 37 pitches. He allowed five hits, walked one, hit a batter and balked home a run.

"The inning kind of got away from Bonilla," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "He fell behind and his pitch count got up. It was inconsistency. The home run looked like it might have been middle-middle. It's not an outing you'd want to see."

Moustakas hit a 1-2 pitch over the left field wall after Hosmer singled, Alex Rios walked and Salvador Perez was hit by a pitch.

Gordon, who was held out of early games while rehabbing from December right wrist surgery, had only three singles in 24 at-bats entering the game.

"Obviously, I got a late start," Gordon said. "The numbers aren't great, but you turn the page every day and realize this is spring training. I want to go out there and produce and perform and when that's not happening, you've just got to come here the next day and try to figure it out."

"I'm trying to do as much as I can right now with the time I have to get ready for the season," he added. "The whole point was to make the wrist feel normal again and that's what it's feeling like right now. I think our main focus was just to come back healthy."

Adam Rosales, Leonys Martin, Jake Smolinski and Ryan Rua each hit solo home runs off Royals left-hander Jason Vargas.

"Another outing to get ready for the season," Vargas said. "Obviously, you don't want to give up four home runs. It happened."

Vargas, who allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings, has one more exhibition start left, in Houston.

Is he ready for the season?

"Yeah, I ain't got no choice, right?" Vargas said. "I don't think if I wasn't ready, there would be no excuse. They give you all the time to prepare."

OF Terrance Gore, who was a pinch runner on the Royals' postseason roster, broke his jaw when he was hit by a pitch in a minor league game.

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