Arlington, Texas ? Carlos Beltran emerged from a prolonged slump to power the Kansas City Royals.

Beltran and Raul Ibanez each homered and had three RBIs, and the Royals used an eight-run eighth inning to rout the Texas Rangers, 13-3, Friday night.

Beltran, who entered the game in a 2-for-27 slump, keyed the eight-run inning when he homered off reliever Aaron Fultz. It was Beltran’s 12th homer of the season.

“I’m just glad I did my job,” said Beltran, 17-for-84 since June 20. “I was trying to be patient and put the ball in play and give myself a chance to get on base.”

Ibanez’s 12th home run capped a four-run third inning off Texas starter R.A. Dickey.

Ken Harvey and Angel Berroa each had three hits for the Royals, who, coupled with a Minnesota loss, extended their lead to 51/2 games over the Twins in the American League Central.

Kris Wilson, Nate Field and Mike MacDougal pitched five scoreless innings in relief of starter Runelvys Hernandez.

Wilson (4-0) pitched three hitless innings to pick up the win.

“With their lineup, it’s easier to pitch ahead in the count,” Wilson said. “I was just focused on hitting my spots and getting ahead of these guys.”

Kansas City pitcher Runelvys Hernandez delivers to a Texas batter. Hernandez made his first start since coming off the disabled list in the Royals' 13-3 victory Friday in Arlington, Texas.

Hernandez was activated from the 15-day disabled list Friday and made his first start since May 14. He was placed on the DL May 27 because of inflammation in his right elbow.

The right-hander yielded three runs and four hits in four innings. He threw 66 pitches.

Earlier, the Rangers traded AL saves leader Ugueth Urbina to the Florida Marlins for three minor leaguers. Florida gave up first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 amateur draft, outfielder Will Smith and left-handed pitcher Ryan Snare, the only one of the three on the Marlins’ 40-man roster. All three are playing in Double-A.

Dickey (4-4), making his first major-league start, allowed four runs and six hits in five innings. He had made 23 appearances out of the bullpen this season and his longest outing before Friday was 32/3 innings May 9.

“I’m going to try to take some positives out of this outing,” Dickey said. “I’ll be better prepared next time.”

The Royals jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third, scoring all of their runs with two outs.

¢ 6Sports video: Royals take on the Rangers

After Brent Mayne doubled, Carlos Febles sacrificed him to third. Michael Tucker then grounded out before Desi Relaford walked. Beltran followed with an RBI single and Relaford scored on balk by Dickey. Ibanez capped the inning with a two-run homer.

“What this ballclub has been doing has been amazing,” Kansas City manager Tony Pena said. “We’ve had some key injuries, but we’ve been doing the little things to win games.”

The Royals broke open a 4-3 game in the eighth as they sent 14 batters to the plate.

Beltran homered, Berroa hit a two-run double, and Febles, Tucker, Relaford and Ibanez also had RBIs.

“It was a big inning for them, and that pretty much blew the game open,” Texas second baseman Michael Young said. “You have to give them credit, they hit the ball.”

Hernandez gave up just one hit over the first three innings before he ran into trouble in the fourth.

Juan Gonzalez, who has 12 RBIs in the past seven games, had an RBI single that scored Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro scored on a throwing error by Ibanez.

Gonzalez scored two batters later on Laynce Nix’s RBI grounder, the first of his big-league career.

Hernandez escaped further damage when Einar Diaz grounded out to end the inning.

The Rangers had five hits, but only one came after the fourth as Kansas City pitchers retired 17 straight before allowing a hit with two outs in the ninth.

Notes: Texas A&M football coach Dennis Franchione threw out the ceremonial first pitch Friday. … It was Beltran’s first homer since June 7, a span of 117 at-bats. … The Rangers had homered in seven consecutive games. … Kansas City (49-41) has its best record through 90 games since 1989 when it was 50-40. … Young is 8-of-17 over his last four games.