Texas Rangers vs Kansas City Royals – Live Game Blog
By David Cash

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Today is the first game of spring training for the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. Last year the Rangers had a spring training record of 17-17-2. Kansas City had a record of 25-7. But don’t read too much not spring training records.
Keep checking back today, starting at 2:05 pm, we’ll live blog the game to keep you up-to-date.
Texas Rangers lineup:
- Shin-Shoo Choo/Peterson – LF
- Elvis Andrus/Wilson – SS
- Prince Fielder/Jim Adduci – FB
- Adrian Beltre/Castellanos – 3b
- Mitch Moreland/Jurickson Profar -DH
- Arencibia/Chirinos -C
- Adam Rosales/Lillibridge -2b
- Leonys Martin/Beltre E. – CF
- Yu Darvish – Starting pitcher
Kansas City Royals lineup:
- Norichika Aoki/Peguero RF
- Omar Infante/Giavotella 2B
- Eric Hosmer/Laird 1B
- Billy Butler/Bonifacio DH
- Alex Gordon/Maxwell LF
- Salvador Perez/Hayes Catcher
- Mike Moustakas/Valencia 3B
- Lorenzo Cain/Dyson CF
- Pedro Ciriaco/ Donald SS
1:01 PM – Field meeting
Field meeting before the game. #RangersST pic.twitter.com/Qg8mMjxfbL
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) February 27, 2014
2:05 pm – Game under way
Top of the 1st
Bruce Chen strikes out Shin-Soo Choo.
Andrus grounds out.
Prince Fielder on one swing grounds out.
Bottom of the 2nd – Yu Darvish up.
Aoki up to bat, Darvish strikes him out. Japanese media all over that at-bat.
Infante flies out to left fielder Shin-Soo Choo. Two outs.
Broken bat- double by Hosmer
Yu Darvish strikes out Billy Butler (swinging) 2 strikeouts for Darvish
Top of the 2nd
Adrian Beltre doubles (1) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Norichika Aoki. None out.
Moreland singles, Beltre scores. Rangers take a 1-0 lead. Fielding error by Lorenzo Cain as Moreland advances to second.
JP Arencibia reaches on an throwing error. 2 errors by the Royals so far.
Base hit by Choice. Arencibia goes from first to third.
Adam Rosales gets a single, Arencibia scores, Rangers lead 2-0. Runners now on the corners.
Leonys Martin up to bat, hits a fly in shallow center. 2- outs
Shin-Soo Choo grounds out. Chen tagged for 1 earned runs. 1 was unearned
Bottom of the 2nd
Yu Darvish remains in the game.
Nasty 63 MPH slow curveball by Darvish, strike!
Darvish strikes out Alex Gordon, 3 strike outs now. Picking up where he left off last year.
Perez gets a hit to right field. Perez got the single off a 94 MPH 4-seam fastball.
Darvish strikes out Moustakas 81 MPH slider (4 strike outs now )
Cain, pops out.
Top of 3rd
Pitching change – Danny Duffy LHP
Duffy uses the heat to strike out Andrus. 95 MPH then 96 MPH fastball.
Prince Fielder slams one out! HOME RUN. 3-0 Rangers
Maybe Duffy is shaken up…Beltre 3-0 at the moment.
Beltre walks.
Moreland went from a 3-1 count to striking out. Duffy again used the heat.
JP Arencibia tried to knock one out, hits the wall. Drives in Beltre. Rangers 4-0. Ball was hit about 400 ft just at the base of the wall.
Looks like Choice may have his second hit. Hit Moustakas hard in the glove. No ruling yet.
Choice advances to second on a wild pitch
Adam Rosales grounds out, to Mike Moustakas
Bottom 3rd
Tommy Hanson to the mound
Ciriaco strikes out. Hanson gets his fastball up to near 90 MPH
Error by Josh Wilson allows Aoki to reach first. Wide throw. Again, Hanson keeps his fastball up near 90 MPH
Aoki steals second. Royals had 153 stolen bases last year.
Infante pops out (2 outs) Aoki on second.
Hosmer pops out to Lillibridge. (Rangers 4-0)
Top 4th
Duffy still in. Strikes out Leonys Martin.
Bryan Petersen battles through 7 pitches, but strikes out on a 91 MPH fastball (Duffy has 4 strike outs)
Wilson grounds out.
Bottom 4th
Tommy Hanson returns
Billy Butler up to bat.
Hanson gets the walk after a full count.
Another error by the Rangers. This time by Adduci, runners on the corners.
Sac fly by Perez gets the Royals on the board. (Rangers 4-1)
Pitching change – Wilmer Font
Font walks Mike Moustakas. Alex Gordon goes to 2nd.
Lorenzo Cain grounds into a force out. They tried to turn the double play, not in time at first. Runners at the corners.
Ciriaco grounds out
Top 5th
New pitcher- Donnie Joseph
Adduci strikes out.
Castellanos up to bat. Strikes out
Profar up to bat. DHing now for Moreland
Another error by KC, Profar reaches
Balk by Joseph advances Profar, Arencibia up to bat.
JP strikes out
Bottom 5th
Aoki grounds out. Hit-less so far
Johnny Giavotella singles on a line drive to left field.
Laird hit by pitch, but barely. It was off his foot.
Wilson had a chance to end it, but commits and error. Both Tex and KC have 3 errors
Bases loaded now. Very poor defensive game by both teams.
Brett Hayes grounds outs
Inning over
Top 6th
Scott Alexander replaces Donnie Joseph to start the inning
Alexander walks Snyder
Lillibridge flies out to center
Snyder attempts to steal, caught by Hayes
E. Beltre singles. Would have been nice to have Snyder on base still, but now is the time to be aggressive.
Peterson lines out
Bottom 6th
Valencia homers off of Feierabend
Feierabend strikes out Jarrod Dyson
Donald grounds out.
Feierabend strikes out Peguero (Rangers 4-2)
Top 7th
Royals pitching change- Cory Wade
Josh Wilson makes up for that error by hitting a double to left field.
Jim Adduci executes a sac bunt to advance Wilson
Castellanos walks.
Profar singles, scores Wilson (Rangers 5-2)
Ward strikes out Chirinos
Snyder also gets redemption, doubles, scores Profar.
Lillibridge homers to center, Snyder scores (Rangers 9-2)
Bottom 7th
Justin Germano now in to pitch
Giavotella lines out to right field. 1 out
Laird up
High pop up by Laird just behind second. Sardinas has it.
Germano throws it way inside, Bonifacio. Didn’t hit him, gets out of the way.
3rd baseman Alex Castellanos commits the 7th error of the game. Bonifacio to first.
Some more scoring
Justin Maxwell hits a home run- scores 2 (Rangers 9-4)
Hayes lines out
Top 8th
Kelvin Herrera in to pitch
Herrera walks Petersen
Sardinas singles . Petersen scores and we add another error. This time by KC 8 errors total.
Kouzmanoff grounds out
Passed ball scores Sardinas
Castellanos strikes out
Profar lines out
Bottom 8th
Justin Germano remains in the game, still pitching.
Valencia lines out
Dyson doubles a line drive to center
Donald singles on a line drive. Runners on the corners
Peguero grounds out, Dyson scores, (Rangers 11-5)
Giavotella doubles on a line drive, Donald scores (Rangers 11-6)
Pitching change- Lefty Aaron Poreda now pitching.
Brandon Laird pops up, but it’s good for a single, scores another run (Rangers 11-7)
Bonifacio out
Top 9th
Malcom Culver now pitching.
Chirinos singles to center on a ground ball.
Culver strikes out Snyder
Odor up to bat
Odor out, Rangers lead 11-7
Bottom 9th
7th pitcher for the Rangers. RHP Lisalverto Bonilla now pitching.
ANOTHER ERROR! 9 for the day
Throwing error Alex Castellanos (3rd baseman)
Game one almost in the books
Hayes flies out, Valencia strikes out.
Bonilla walks Jarrod Dyson
Rangers win an defensively ugly game. 5 errors by the Rangers, 4 by the Royals.