Rogers’ complete game lifts Texas over Kansas City – Rangers 3, Royals 1

? Kenny Rogers gave the Texas Rangers’ sagging bullpen a lift.

Rogers pitched a five-hit complete game and the Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 3-1 Saturday night.

When: 2:05 p.m. today.Where: The Ballpark at Arlington.Television: Channel 9.Pitchers: Paul Byrd (8-2) vs. Chan Ho Park (1-2).KC record: 21-31 (9 back).

Six Rangers relievers appeared in Friday night’s 11-inning loss to the Royals, and Texas manager Jerry Narron was depending on a long outing from Rogers.

“We didn’t necessarily need a complete game, but we did need him to pitch deep into the game,” Narron said. “Kenny came up big for us.”

Rogers’ assortment of off-speed pitches kept the Royals under control with 17 ground-ball outs in Texas’ fourth complete game of the season, which was Rogers’ second.

Rangers relievers needed the night off. Texas’ bullpen had allowed 26 runs over its previous 32 innings and had 11 blown saves in 24 chances this season.

“I was trying to pitch as long as possible to give our bullpen a rest,” Rogers said. “I had good location and was putting the ball in good places. The key was location and getting ahead in the count.”

Herbert Perry had three hits, including a homer, and drove in two runs.

Rogers (6-3) struck out six and walked one. He shut out Kansas City until the ninth inning, when Carlos Febles led off with a double and later scored on Mark Sweeney’s groundout. Rogers got Joe Randa on a game-ending groundout.

“Once (Febles) got to third, I forgot about him and just tried to get my out and get the hitter,” Rogers said.

The left-hander held down the Royals after they had 15 hits on Friday night. In the first inning, Rogers issued a two-out walk to Carlos Beltran and gave up a single to Sweeney. Rogers then retired the next 14 batters before Neifi Perez’s one-out single in the sixth, and struck out the side in the eighth.