Jonah Heim was behind the plate as Jacob deGrom had nine strikeouts to break another Texas record that had been held by Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. The catcher then hit the no-doubt homer to end the game after the Rangers had blown the lead following the exit of their new ace.

Heim hit a three-run shot in the 10th inning for the Rangers in their 8-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night. The 403-foot, three-run shot to right off Scott Barlow (0-1) came after Josh Jung’s two-out walk that followed a tying RBI single by Adolis Garcia.

Michael Massey had a sac fly for the Royals in the 10th after they had scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to force extra innings.

While deGrom ended up with a no-decision, the nine Ks pushed his season total to 27 and set a new mark for a Rangers pitcher in his first three appearances – that had been Ryan’s 26 after he joined the team in 1989. It came a night after Andrew Heaney, like deGrom new to the Texas rotation this season, had nine consecutive strikeouts to tie an American League record and surpass Ryan’s single-game club record of seven in a row in 1991.

DeGrom left with a 4-2 lead in his third start for Texas – all at home since signing his $185 million, five-year contract in free agency last December. The two-time National League Cy Young Award winner didn’t have a walk while throwing 68 of his 98 pitches for strikes over seven innings, and three innings later his catcher ended it at the plate.

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Royals RHP Brad Keller (1-1, 2.61 ERA) has the longest active streak of consecutive starts getting a decision – going 6-11 over 17 starts since last May 21. He is still short of Tim Belcher’s team record of 21 consecutive starts with a decision that ended in June 1997. Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 4.22) makes his third start for Texas in the series finale Wednesday night.