ARLINGTON, Texas — Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning and the Texas Rangers pulled out a 13-12 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night after blowing an early eight-run lead.
The Royals had finally taken their first lead of the game in the top of the eighth and brought in closer Joakim Soria (0-1) with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Hamliton homered and Guerrero followed with his second go-ahead homer of the game, a shot that landed in the Rangers bullpen in right-center field.
Frank Francisco (4-3) gave up a run in one inning. Neftali Feliz, only minutes after catching Guerrero's shot in the bullpen, struck out two of the three batters he faced for his seventh save in eight chances.
Guerrero's towering two-run homer in the sixth — more than 10 rows deep into the left-field stands — had put the Rangers up 11-9 after the Royals had tied the game with five runs in the top of that inning.
Hamilton had three hits with three RBIs and four runs scored. Hamilton and Guerrero both have five home runs this season.
Alberto Callaspo hit a two-run homer in the seventh for the Royals, who then took their only lead in the eighth when Kila Ka'aihue had a pinch-hit RBI single in his first plate appearance of the season.
Billy Butler and Scott Podsednik also homered for the Royals.
Kansas City's No. 9 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt led off the eighth against Francisco with a single and advanced to second on Podednik's sacrifice before the go-ahead hit by Ka'aihue, the 26-year-old rookie from Hawaii who was recalled from the minors Wednesday.
Texas (15-14) returned home and regained a share of the AL West lead with the idle Athletics after losing the last two games of their three-game series in Oakland this week.
The Rangers had an 8-0 lead in the third after Justin Smoak pulled a liner into the right-field seats for a three-run homer. The rookie first baseman's third homer of the season capped a six-run outburst in the inning.
Kansas City then scored multiple runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Rangers reliever Dustin Nippert struck out the first batter he faced, Callaspo, leading off the sixth. But the next five batters reached and scored against the right-hander, including a walk to Betancourt before Podsednik hit a three-run homer into the second deck of stands in right field to tie the game at 9.
Kansas City needed only two batters in the seventh after Guerrero's homer to tie the game at 11. Reliever Chris Ray walked leadoff hitter Jose Guillen before Callaspo followed with his fifth homer of the season.
Michael Young, the Rangers' longest-tenured player in his 10th season, had a single in the fourth inning for his 1,693rd career hit. That broke a tie with Rafael Palmeiro for second on the team's career list, and another single two innings later pushed him within 53 of Ivan Rodriguez's record of 1,747.
Notes
All-Star 2B Ian Kinsler made his home debut after opening the season on the DL and playing his first six games on the road. He was 3-for-4 and was part of two spectacular defensive plays. … Texas opened a stretch of playing 14 of 17 games at home. … Royals 2B Chris Getz, who is hitting .204, got a day off. Mike Aviles started instead.