The Kansas City Royals took the lead early, then relied on key defensive plays to hold off a Texas Rangers comeback attempt to prevail 4-3 on Monday, Aug. 18 at Kauffman Stadium.

Leadoff batter Mike Yastrzemski connected on a 3-1 pitch, sending it past right-center field for the first score. Texas responded in the second when Jonah Heim singled in Marcus Semien. However, their scoring threat was squelched when Josh Smith hit a fly ball to John Rave, who then relayed the ball to catcher Luke Maile in time to tag out Joc Pederson at home. That was the first of three double plays the Royals made in the game.

The Royals then took the lead for good with a pair of line-drive home runs, first with Vinnie Pasquantino’s two-run blast in the third, then the game winner in the fifth from Maikel Garcia. Texas would claim their remaining runs with a single in the sixth and groundout in the eighth.

Texas outhit the Royals 11-8, including a three-for-four evening from Corey Seager. However, only one of those hits was for extra bases. Jack Leiter allowed two of the three Royal home runs to take the loss, going 3.2 innings, giving up six hits and three walks but striking out five. Michael Wacha earned his eighth win of the year, allowing two runs on nine hits while fanning three. Carlos Estévez secured his 32nd save of the year.

The Royals now have a four-game winning streak and are 64-61, nine games behind Detroit in the AL Central and 3.5 games back in the Wild Card chase, which has the top three wild card teams all tied at 10 games over .500. Seth Lugo is set to start Tuesday evening’s game. Pregame on KMMO-FM 102.9 begins at 6 p.m., with first pitch at 6:40 p.m.