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| Murphy, Rangers slam Royals TEXAS 11, KANSAS CITY 5 |
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By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- David Murphy's grand slam highlighted a seven-run seventh inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-5, Wednesday night. The Rangers battled back from a 5-1 deficit for the second straight game and again were helped by costly Royals defensive miscues as Texas matched a season high for runs scored in one inning. After Milton Bradley walked to load the bases, Murphy slugged a 2-0 pitch from reliever Jimmy Gobble's (0-2) 407 feet to right field for his first career grand slam, giving the Rangers a 7-5 lead. "I was just trying to slow things down and not rush through the at-bat," Murphy said. "When the count got to 2-0, I was sitting dead-red fastball and he threw one that kind of got over the middle of the plate. I just made sure I didn't miss it." "Guys like Josh (Hamilton) and Milton (Bradley) get a lot of attention, but David is right there with them, coming up big," Texas manager Ron Washington said. Seven straight Texas hitters reached base to start the seventh, scoring a pair of runs to cut the deficit to 5-3 before the rookie left fielder's slam. "These guys have a knack of scoring runs late," Washington said. "We've got quite a lineup one through nine. Our offense is what it is." "Any win is great, but in comeback fashion is always fun," Murphy said. "It's fun being a part of this lineup. One through nine these guys can really put up runs." Marlon Byrd hit his second of two doubles and scored to boost the Rangers' lead to 8-3. Byrd had three hits, walked twice, scored three runs and reached safely in all five plate appearances. "I guess we just need to wait until the bullpen comes in," Byrd said. "Their starting pitcher did a good job. We made some minor adjustments against their bullpen. Coming back like we did tonight and last night shows our character." Murphy added a solo shot leading off the ninth inning for his first career multi-homer game. He also set a career best with five RBI to pace the majors' highest-scoring offense. "This team is unconscious right now," Byrd said. "At any point in time, this lineup, one through nine, can put up a lot of runs." "Hitting in this lineup builds confidence," Murphy said. "Pretty much the entire year we've been a team that perseveres. You can never count us out." Vicente Padilla (8-3) pitched six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out two in winning for the sixth time in his last seven decisions. "I made only one bad pitch tonight," Padilla said through an interpreter. "It was a sinker that didn't sink, and he hit it out. If not for that home run the game was 3-1." Kansas City built its lead on a pair of two-run hits by Mark Grudzielanek, who doubled in the third and hit his second home run of the season with two out in the sixth. Kyle Davies started for the Royals and allowed just one run through six innings, despite giving up six hits and five walks while striking out three. "I wasn't making quality pitches and that made my pitch count high early," Davies said. "A starting pitcher is supposed to go as long as he can and be as effective as he can with the least amount of pitches. The first two innings, I wasn't doing that." "Davies gave us everything he had," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "He was done after six. His pitch count got up and they fouled some pitches off. The walks hurt him. He put us in a position to win the game but obviously we still have a lot of trouble out of the bullpen." The Kansas City bullpen surrendered 10 runs on 10 hits over three innings one night after allowing five runs over the final three innings. "We pitched who we had available, but our guys are used up," Hillman said. "That's the bottom line. I was hoping (righthander Jeff) Fulchino would do a little better than he did. You've got to throw strikes. Jimmy (Gobble) didn't throw well, obviously. We're obviously in a tough situation and we don't know exactly what we're going to do. It's not going to get better with a lead if we can't have somebody get some outs in the seventh and eighth." |
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