ARLINGTON, Texas (AP)– Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers offense is starting to show some pop. Colby Lewis keeps giving them solid outings on the mound.
Beltre homered for the second day in a row, getting the 399th of his career, while newcomer Thomas Field hit his first as the Rangers beat the weary Kansas City Royals 8-2 Monday night.
“I’m feeling better,” said Beltre, who has raised his average from .140 to .244 over the past 20 games. “Offensively, everybody is doing better. No doubt that we didn’t want to start as slow as we did, but it’s a long season, and we need to start picking it up a little bit.”
Prince Fielder also homered for the Rangers to back Lewis (3-2), who allowed one run on three hits over seven innings. The 35-year-old right-hander has allowed just two runs over 21 innings his last three starts.
“You can see the look, he talks about how good he feels,” manager Jeff Banister said of Lewis, who struck out five and walked two. “Right now, it’s a very nice look in how he shows up for every start.”
The defending AL champion Royals didn’t arrive in Texas until about 5:45 a.m. Monday after their 10-inning, rain-delayed victory at Detroit that ended after midnight.
“It’s definitely a factor, but it’s all part of the grind,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “I don’t know if that was the reason. You’ve got to credit those guys. They played a good game over there, and Lewis pitched well.”
Danny Duffy (2-2), who traveled ahead of his teammates, matched his career high with six walks while pitching only 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four while giving up six runs and five hits.
Beltre’s fourth homer this season was a two-run shot in the fourth. That made it 6-1 and matched him with Al Kaline and Andres Galarraga for 52nd all-time on MLB’s career home run list.
Field, called up earlier Monday after struggling second baseman Rougned Odor was sent to Triple-A Round Rock, led off the seventh with his homer. Field’s 34th career MLB game was his first for Texas.
Texas scored four times in the second, after Duffy walked the first three batters and No. 9 batter Delino DeShields hit a two-run double. A wild pitch by the lefty sent home another run before Shin-Soo Choo had an RBI single.
Choo, who has an 11-game hitting streak but is still hitting only .194 on the season, had a leadoff single in the fourth before Beltre’s blast on the last of Duffy’s 97 pitches.
Fielder homered leading off the eighth. His third of the year matched his total in his Rangers debut last season, when he played only 42 games before neck surgery.
Kendrys Morales had an RBI single for the Royals in the fourth. Mike Moustakas was thrown out also trying to score on that hit when center fielder Leonys Martin threw a strike to the plate that beat him by several steps.
