Royals fall again

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Richard Hidalgo homered twice to back Ryan Drese, and the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Tuesday night to stretch their winning streak to four.

Drese (4-4), who had lost three of his previous four decisions, allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings. Francisco Cordero got three outs for his 15th save in 17 chances, helping the Rangers (25-20) move five games over .500 for the first time this season.

Terrence Long hit a one-out single, took third on Ruben Gotay's double and scored when second baseman Alfonso Soriano bobbled the relay throw for an error. With Gotay on second, Cordero struck out Angel Berroa, then ended the game by throwing a called third strike past David DeJesus.

Kevin Mench's RBI double in the sixth against Runelvys Hernandez (2-6) broke a 2-2 tie. Soriano had a two-out single, stole second and scored on Mench's liner beyond third baseman Mark Teahen.

Hernandez gave up three runs and five hits in six innings for Kansas City, which dropped to 6-15 on the road.

Mench led off the second with a single, and Hidalgo hit an 0-2 pitch off the left-field foul pole for a 2-0 lead. Hernandez settled in to retire 13 straight from the second through the sixth until Soriano's single in the sixth.

Kansas City tied the score on DeJesus' RBI double in the third and Mike Sweeney's run-scoring single in the fifth.

Hidalgo, hitting .206 coming in, made it 4-2 in the seventh off Andy Sisco with his eighth homer. It was Hidalgo's 14th multihomer game.

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