Alex Gordon’s Bomb leads Royals to Win

Alex Gordon‘s 2-run home run to dead center in the 4th inning gave the Kansas City Royals a lead they would not relinquish in their 4-1 win over the Rangers at Kauffman Stadium Wednesday night.

The win finishes off the series sweep against Texas. Gordon’s blast provided all the runs that starter Jason Vargas needed to record his 11th win of the season (11-7).

The win puts the Royals 16 games over .500 at 77-61. Kansas City opened a 1.5 game lead in the A.L. Central over the Tigers after Detroit lost 7-0 to Cleveland.

On the Mound

Jason Vargas made yet another strong start for Kansas City, going 6.2 innings, allowing 6 hits, 0 walks, and 0 earned runs with 5 strikeouts. Vargas left the game with runners at 1st and 2nd, 2 outs, and with the Royals leading 2-0.

Kelvin Herrera came into the game to get the final out of the 7th.s

Louis Coleman pitched .2 innings in the 8th, but allowed a run after walking Elvis Andrus, and allowing a 2-out RBI single to Ryan Rua.

Wade Davis entered in the 8th and recorded the final out after giving up a single.

Greg Holland recorded his 42nd save of the season by pitching a clean 9th with 2 strikeouts.

At the Plate

Alex Gordon opened the scoring for the Royals by blasting his 19th home run to center with Omar Infante on base in the 4th inning, to put Kansas City up 2-0.

Salvador Perez opened the 7th with a double and scored on Billy Butler‘s 1-out double to give KC a 3-0 lead.

Overall, the Royals got 8 hits and 1 walk on the night.

This and That

Minor leaguer Terrance Gore made his presence felt in the 7th by stealing 3rd base with 2 outs and scoring when the throw went wild. It was the first error by Texas in the series..

The play put Kansas City up 4-0, and it was both Gore’s first MLB stolen base and his first major-league run.

The last time the Royals had 3 players with more than 25 stolen bases was 1983. If Lorenzo Cain gets another stolen base before the season ends, this year’s team will be the first to hit that mark in 31 years.

Kelvin Herrera last gave up an earned run on June 24—a span of 26.2 innings without allowing a run.

Wade Davis has not given up an earned run since June 25. Since then, Davis has gone 28.0 innings without allowing an earned run.

Texas’ Adrian Beltre has a 20-game hitting streak vs. the Royals—including a double Wednesday night.

Greg Holland is tied for the major-league lead in saves at 42 with Craig Kimbrel.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Alex Gordon gets our nod for his 19th home run that put the Royals up 2-0.