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Rangers, Hamilton take on Royals

Thu 1st, May 2008

(Sports Network) - Two last-place teams wrap up a three-game series this afternoon at Rangers Ballpark, where a Texas squad seemingly on the upswing shoots for a second straight victory over the Kansas City Royals.

The Rangers appear to have put a recent seven-game losing streak in the past, as the club won for the third time in five outings with Wednesday's 11-9 outlasting of the Royals. Texas blasted five home runs on the evening, including a second-inning grand slam by Josh Hamilton that staked the Rangers to an early 7-0 lead.

Milton Bradley, David Murphy and Gerald Laird all hit two-run homers for Texas, while Brandon Boggs added a solo shot for his first major league home run.

Rangers starter Kevin Millwood (2-2) got the win despite yielding five runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.

John Buck and David DeJesus both hit two-run homers for the Royals, which had won three of their last four following a seven-game slide of their own. DeJesus also knocked in a run on a fielder's choice, while Tony Pena collected a pair of hits and scored twice in defeat.

Brian Bannister (3-3) absorbed the loss after he was rocked for seven runs on seven hits in just three innings of work.

Kansas City will likely get a better showing today out of Zack Greinke, who brings a most-impressive 1.25 season earned run average into Thursday's rubber match and has yielded one run or less in four of his five 2008 starts.

Greinke was sharp yet again on Friday, when he limited Toronto to one run and five hits in seven innings of work. The young right-hander left the contest with the Royals holding a 2-1 lead, but the Kansas City bullpen gave up three runs in the eighth to deny Greinke a potential win.

The 24-year-old former first-round pick has faced Texas seven times previously, including five times as a starter. Greinke has gone 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in those games, and beat the Rangers in Arlington last September by firing five shutout innings.

Greinke figures to face a tough challenge in the hot-hitting Hamilton, who leads the majors with 32 runs batted in through the first month and is batting .478 (11-for-23) with 11 RBI during a current five-game hit streak.

Sidney Ponson will take his second turn as a member of the Rangers' injury- plagued rotation this afternoon. The well-traveled veteran was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma last week and posted a no-decision against Minnesota this past Saturday. Ponson did allow five runs to the Twins in his 5 1/3-inning stint, but only one was earned.

The Aruba native owns a 9-7 record with a 4.60 ERA over 19 career starts versus the Royals, but Ponson hasn't beaten Kansas City since the 2005 campaign.

Kansas City lost four of six games with the Rangers in Arlington last season and is 5-9 as the visitor in this series since 2005.

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