ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Alex Gordon homered on the first pitch of the 10th inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 Tuesday night.

Gordon greeted reliever Stolmy Pimentel (0-1) by pulling a ball into the seats down the right-field line.

Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas also homered for the AL Central leaders, who had gone ahead on an RBI groundout by Lorenzo Cain in the ninth. Adrian Beltre’s two-out RBI single in the bottom half tied the game again.

After Greg Holland (1-0) took over in the ninth and blew his first save in seven chances this year, the right-hander returned to throw a perfect 10th. It was his first outing this season that lasted more than one inning.

— Associated Press —

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Kansas City Royals added a fresh arm to their bullpen, calling up right-hander Aaron Brooks from Triple-A Omaha and sending reliever Yohan Pino to that minor league team.

Brooks joined the team before Tuesday night’s game at Texas.

Pino pitched 3 1/3 innings in relief of Royals starter Danny Duffy in an 8-2 loss on Monday night.

Brooks was 2-3 with a 3.51 ERA in six appearances for Omaha.

— Associated Press —

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.

DREAM COME TRUE

Field found out from his wife after his flight landed that he was in the starting lineup. He had his first career stolen base after reaching in the fifth, then his homer in the seventh. “It was kind of a dream-come-true night,” said the native Texan. He had family members from the Waco area at the game, but wasn’t even sure how many.

ANOTHER CLUNKER

Duffy struggled again after not making it out of the second inning of his previous start Wednesday against Cleveland. “There’s going to be stretches in your career, I’ve heard it from a bazillion people, that you just don’t have your best stuff every time you go out there,” he said. “It’s not for lack of confidence. I just flat out didn’t do my job.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Manager Ned Yost downed an energy drink before his daily pregame briefing with reporters. He had gotten to sleep about 7 a.m. Monday, and woke up only two hours later. As for the players, Yost said, “I wanted them to sleep … try to conserve as much energy as you can.”

Rangers: 1B Mitch Moreland (shoulder) is expected to play again Tuesday for Round Rock. He could be back with Texas as early as Wednesday, the day he’s eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list.

UP NEXT

Royals: Edinson Volquez (2-3, 2.65), the pitcher the Rangers traded to Cincinnati in December 2007 for Josh Hamilton, starts as an opponent in Texas for the first time in his career.

Rangers: Texas (14-18) goes for its second three-game winning streak in a week after failing to win consecutive games in the first 24 games of the season before then.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — Greg Holland worked out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the bottom of the 10th inning, and the Kansas City Royals held on for a 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers early Monday in a game that was delayed 103 minutes by rain.

Omar Infante’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th put the Royals ahead, but Holland allowed a single and two walks to start the bottom half. Hernan Perez — batting because Miguel Cabrera had been removed for a pinch-runner the previous inning — bounced into a 5-2-3 double play, but another walk to Victor Martinez loaded the bases again.

Holland then struck out Yoenis Cespedes for his sixth save in six chances.

Jason Frasor (1-0) got the win, working out of a bases-loaded jam of his own in the ninth.

Angel Nesbitt (0-1) took the loss.

The game was delayed after the top of the ninth, and the Tigers nearly won it in the bottom half. Frasor allowed a leadoff walk to Cabrera and a single by Martinez, but he eventually got James McCann to fly out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Nesbitt began the 10th with a hit batter and a wild pitch, and after the runner advanced to third on a groundout, Infante’s flyball made it 2-1.

The Royals lead Detroit by 1 1/2 games atop the AL Central.

Kansas City starter Chris Young allowed an unearned run and three hits in six innings, while Shane Greene of the Tigers allowed a run and four hits in eight innings.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead when Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon led off the second with consecutive doubles. Detroit tied it in the third thanks to an ill-advised play by Infante, the second baseman.

Anthony Gose tried to bunt his way on with two outs, and Infante tried to flip the ball acrobatically behind his back to first. It sailed wildly, and Gose ended up on second — the play was scored an infield single and an error.

After moving into scoring position, Gose was able to score on Ian Kinsler’s single.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Holland also pitched Saturday. This was the first time he appeared in back-to-back games since returning from a pectoral injury.

Tigers: Detroit is pushing LHP David Price (hamstring) back to Saturday for his next start. … Tigers RHP Justin Verlander (triceps) threw off flat ground before the game. … Detroit SS Jose Iglesias (groin) was out of the lineup.

UP NEXT

The Tigers are off Monday. The Royals send LHP Danny Duffy (2-1) to the mound against RHP Colby Lewis (2-2) of the Rangers in the opener of a four-game series at Texas.

— Associated Press —