ARLINGTON, Texas — Mitch Moreland’s second home run of the game broke a tie in the eighth inning and Cole Hamels earned his 12th win of the season as the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Thursday night.
Hamels (12-2) allowed two runs and six hits in eight innings, matching his longest start of the season. His 123 pitches were 10 more than his previous high for the year. He didn’t allow an earned run in his previous two starts, totaling 13 1/3 innings.
Sam Dyson earned his 21st save in 23 opportunities, stranding the tying run at third base.
Rougned Odor also homered for the Rangers.
Both homers by the left-handed hitting Moreland were to the opposite field. It was Moreland’s 10th career multi-homer game and second of the season. He has five homers in his last 11 hits.
Yordano Ventura (6-9) threw the first complete game of his career, pitching eight innings. He allowed only four hits, including the three homers. He is 0-5 in six starts since his last win on June 17.
Hamels’ 12 strikeouts equaled his Texas high, set last September vs. Seattle. His career high — set with Philadelphia — is 15. The 12 is the most by a Rangers pitcher this season.
Paulo Orlando’s second home run of the season, and first since May 17, was pulled well beyond the 14-foot wall in left field and gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead.
Odor’s 465-foot homer into the upper deck in right field in the second inning increased his career-best total to 19 and was the farthest of his career.
Kansas City retook the lead with a run in the fifth when Raul Mondesi’s topper to shortstop scored Alex Gordon. Gordon had singled and advanced to third on a blooper to center by Brett Eibner that broke an 0-for-19 streak. Moreland then homered in the bottom of the fifth.
Neither team had a hit with runners in scoring position. Kansas City was 0 for 11 while Texas didn’t have an at-bat in that situation.
TWINS 6, ORIOLES 2 Rookie Max Kepler continued his midseason surge with a game-tying home run among two hits and two RBIs as the Minnesota Twins rallied to beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-2 on Thursday night. The teams were squeezing in a make-up game from a May 9 postponement with Minnesota in the middle of a homestand and Baltimore heading for a weekend series at Toronto.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
ROCKIES 2, METS 1 Mets steady closer Jeurys Familia stumbled for a second straight game, allowing two runs in the ninth inning as the Colorado Rockies beat New York 2-1 Thursday for their seventh win in eight games. Less than 24 hours after Familia’s streak of 52 consecutive regular-season saves was snapped, the right-hander entered in the top of the ninth with a 1-0 lead, and couldn’t hold it.
BREWERS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4 Hernan Perez hit a two-run homer, singled and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, Zach Davies pitched 6 1/3 innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Thursday. Perez, who started at shortstop for benched Jonathan Villar, crushed Robbie Ray’s first pitch 458 feet off the facing of the scoreboard in deep center for the two-run homer in the third.
CARDINALS 5, MARLINS 4 Aledmys Diaz homered, doubled and drove in three runs against childhood pal Jose Fernandez, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 5-4 Thursday. Fernandez gave up five runs in five innings and fell to 26-2 at Marlins Park. Miami’s Dee Gordon, the 2015 NL batting and stolen bases champion, returned from an 80-game suspension for failing a drug test and went 0 for 4. Ichiro Suzuki doubled as a pinch hitter in the seventh for Miami and needs two hits for 3,000. PHILLIES 7, BRAVES 5 Aaron Altherr and Maikel Franco homered, Aaron Nola won for the first time in eight starts and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-5 on Thursday night. Altherr returned to the lineup after missing the first 103 games of the season with a broken left wrist. He went 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Braves starter Matt Wisler (4-11) gave up three homers and has allowed eight homers in his past four starts, a span of 20 1/3 innings.
INTERLEAGUE
CUBS 3, WHITE SOX 1 Chris Sale returned from his jersey-trashing suspension and threw six effective innings, but John Lackey outpitched him and Aroldis Chapman got the final four outs to save the Cubs’ 3-1 victory over the White Sox in Chicago’s rivalry series Thursday night. Sale (14-4) was greeted with smiles and hugs from his teammates following a five-day ban for tearing up 1976-style uniforms he didn’t want to wear before his previous scheduled start. He had command issues, but worked out of trouble while allowing two runs and six hits.