Royals hope they’ve found right mix as they battle Rangers

Kansas City’s offense has revved up thanks to an emphasis on aggressive swings early in at-bats.

The Royals hope to build on that success when they play the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night in the middle contest of a three-game series in Arlington, Texas.

The contest will feature left-handed starting pitchers as Kris Bubic (5-4, 1.92 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Patrick Corbin (4-5, 3.66) for the Rangers.

Kansas City snapped a six-game losing streak in which it was outscored 30-11 by winning the series opener 6-1 on Tuesday. The Royals got two home runs and an RBI double by Salvador Perez, a homer and a double and two runs from Bobby Witt Jr., and a season-best outing from pitcher Seth Lugo.

The Rangers saw their four-game winning streak snapped after totaling just five hits off four Royals pitchers, with Corey Seager leading the way with two hits and a run.

Bubic, who was the American League pitcher of the month in May, will look to get back on track after enduring his worst start of the year. He allowed five runs on six hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings in a 6-3 loss at home to the New York Yankees last Wednesday.

He allowed all five of his runs in the pivotal second inning and tied a season low with three strikeouts in the loss.

“[My] stuff wasn’t sharp after the first inning,” Bubic said. “I threw 41 pitches in (the second) inning, and that’s something you never want to do, regardless of what the umpires are doing and what the calls are. It just comes back to me.”

Bubic has had little success in his three lifetime appearances, one of them a start, against the Rangers. He is 0-2 with an 11.37 ERA over 6 1/3 innings, in which he’s given up 11 runs (eight earned) on 13 hits with four strikeouts and five walks.

Corbin is coming off a win at Minnesota last Thursday in which he surrendered three runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts. The victory was Corbin’s first since May 14, with three losses and a no-decision in between.

Corbin has allowed three or fewer runs in a career-best 12 consecutive starts but had to pitch out of early trouble in his most recent outing, a contest the Rangers won 16-3. But the game was still in the balance when got out of a two-on, no-out jam in the second inning.

“You just try to make some quality pitches there and get out of it,” Corbin said of that situation. “That was the biggest inning from my outing, just being able to get out of that and get through five there.”

In four career starts against the Royals (three starts), Corbin has a 1-0 record with a 4.22 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. He pitched against Texas last season when he was in Washington, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk in a 5 1/3 innings of a no-decision.

Texas played Monday without utility man Josh Smith, who was held out to nurse a sore left hamstring. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy listed Smith as “day to day” and said before Monday’s game that Smith would not need to go on the injured list.

–Field Level Media