Brian Bannister gave up three home runs in three innings including a grand slam to Josh Hamilton as the Rangers held off a late Royals rally to win 11-9.  Bannister’s ERA jumped to 4.04 and his record to 3-3.

Bannister gave up a two-run homer to Milton Bradley in the first inning. Then rookie Brandon Boggs hit the first of his career in the second. Later in that inning, Josh Hamilton crashed a grand slam for a 7-0 lead. Bannister called it Coors Field on steroids; the wind was whipping around at 29 mph.  

Down 9-1, the Royals started a rally of their own scoring five in the 7 th inning highlighted by a two run homer by David DeJesus.  The Rangers went back up 11-6 on two runs off of reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta.  The Royals made one last run in the 9 th when John Buck hit a two run shot.

Trying to find a silver lining in all of this, at least the Royals offense has shown some signs of coming to life.  They’ve scored nine runs in the last two games, but this too is coming off of one of the worst pitching staffs in all of baseball.