MLB ROUNDUP: Royals blank Giants, 2-0
All three Oakland homers were hit off reliever Mike Hauschild.
Joey Gallo homered in the fifth for Texas, a drive off the facade below a row of luxury suites in center field. It would have traveled 437 feet had it landed unimpeded, according to Major League Baseball’s Statcast system.
Rangers manager Jeff Banister was ejected by plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing over a thirdinning foul ball hit by Davis, who singled after Banister left the field.
Texas has lost five of six, dropping to last in the AL West at 5-10. Martin Perez (1-2) gave up four runs and seven hits in 3 ⁄ innings, allowing all his runs with two outs. He had given up one run in his previous 10 ⁄ innings. ERROR STREAK SNAPPED The A’s made several big plays behind Hahn and played error-free for the first time in 12 games.
“The defense won the game today,” Hahn said. “All I had to do was keep the ball in play.”
UP NEXT Cesar Valdez (0-0) returns to the big leagues for the first time since 2010 to pitch against Seattle today. Valdez is making a spot outing in place of opening day starter Kendall Graveman, on the DL with a strained right shoulder.
Royals 2, Giants 0 KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jason Vargas dazzled for the third straight start, the Royals finally scored off Giants ace Madison Bumgarner and Kansas City beat San Francisco to split their two-game series.
Vargas (3-0) scattered four hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks, his 12th straight start allowing two runs or fewer – the longest streak by a left-hander in franchise history.
The veteran is also unbeaten in his last eight home starts.
Joakim Soria pitched a perfect eighth inning in relief of Vargas, and Kelvin Herrera worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to earn his third save and finish a 5-3 homestand for the Royals.
Bumgarner (0-3) matched Vargas pitch for pitch until the fifth, when Paulo Orlando managed a one-out single. He stole second, took third on a groundout and went home when Mike Moustakas delivered a base hit, his first with runners in scoring position this season.
That ended Bumgarner’s streak of 18 scoreless innings against the Royals, dating to the 2014 World Series opener. That run of dominance included a brilliant start later in the Series and five innings of scoreless relief in Game 7, when Bumgarner earned the save that finished the championship.
Bumgarner allowed one run, seven hits and a walk while striking out four but was done in by another poor night by San Francisco’s offense. The lanky lefthander has only received five total runs of support in his first four starts, including one run or none in three of them.
Salvador Perez added an RBI single in the eighth, just the third run surrendered by Giants relievers in the past nine games.
GIANTS LOOK AHEAD Bench coach Ron Wotus said manager Bruce Bochy is still on track to rejoin the team Friday night in Chicago. Bochy missed the series after having a minor heart procedure. Wotus also said Posey would likely return to catching on Friday after coming off the concussion list and spending two games as the DH.
TRAINER’S ROOM Giants OF Mac Williamson (quad) began a rehab assignment at Class A San Jose on Wednesday, while OF/1B Michael Morse (hamstring) was batting cleanup as the designated hitter.
UP NEXT San Francisco gets a day off today before RHP Johnny Cueto takes the mound to begin a three-game series at Colorado. Cueto has won his first three starts this season.