Gil Meche pitched into the seventh without allowing a run, Mark Teahen assumed his new role by going 5-for-6 with a homer and the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 12-3 on Friday night.
The Rangers went from scoring the most runs in the majors this season on Wednesday night against Baltimore, to being held without a run until Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd hit back-to-back homers in the eighth that cut their deficit to 10 runs.
Teahen, taking over as the primary third baseman with Alex Gordon out for at least 10 weeks after hip surgery Friday, led off the second with his first homer. Coco Crisp added a three-run homer in the inning to make it 4-0 against Matt Harrison (0-2).
The Royals, who entered the game with a majors-worst .216 average, had 19 hits. Alberto Callaspo had three singles and scored twice, while Mike Jacobs homered and had four RBIs.
Meche, pulled after consecutive singles to start the seventh, struck out six and lowered his ERA to 2.25 in his three starts this year. The right-hander finished strong last season, going 11-3 with a 3.09 ERA his last 21 starts.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
Jamey Wright gave up a one-out single to No. 9 hitter Elvis Andrus to load the bases, but struck out Kinsler and got Omar Vizquel, pinch-hitting for Michael Young, on a foul pop to get out of the seventh.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off the ninth with his second homer, coming after a 2-for-26 slide in which he struck out 12 times. He stuck out his first three at-bats Friday.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
