Royals cut four, trim roster to 26

? The Kansas City Royals sliced four players off their roster Saturday, leaving them one move to make.

The Royals reassigned left-handed pitcher Tim Hamulack and righties Roman Colon and Brandon Duckworth to Triple-A Omaha. The club also optioned outfielder Mitch Maier to Omaha after its game Saturday against the Texas Rangers.

Kansas City still have 26 players on their roster and need to have it down to 25 by this afternoon. Royals manager Trey Hillman said outfielder Shane Costa and catcher Brayan Pena were battling for the final roster spot.

The Royals will open the season Monday against the White Sox in Chicago. They concluded their spring-training games Saturday with a 5-4 victory against the Texas Rangers.

Texas’ Kris Benson made his final exhibition start and pitched five innings. Kansas City’s Mike Jacobs and John Buck each hit solo homers, and Alberto Callaspo had an RBI triple in the eighth that broke a 4-all tie.

Benson, the No. 1 overall pick by Pittsburgh in 1996, hasn’t pitched in a regular-season game since 2006 after undergoing surgery for a torn rotator cuff. He made six appearances this spring and is slated to start Friday against Detroit.

Benson allowed three runs, one earned, and struck out five in the final exhibition game for both teams.

“Everything felt good,” Benson said. “Everything is where I need it to be. I want to keep this consistency going through the season.”

Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus dropped a popup with two outs in the second inning, misjudging it in the wind. The 20-year-old rookie’s error led to two unearned runs.

Jacobs connected with two outs in the fifth for his seventh homer this spring. Buck went deep in the sixth against Josh Rupe.

Marlon Byrd hit a two-run shot off Royals starter Kyle Davies in the second. Davies allowed two runs and four hits in four innings.

Doug Waechter allowed two runs and two hits in the sixth, but Ron Mahay, Juan Cruz, Kyle Farnsworth and Joakim Soria each pitched a scoreless inning for Kansas City.

“It was a good game overall,” Hillman said. “I thought our pitching was very good.”

The Rangers finished the spring with a 21-14 record, and the Royals were 18-14.

Nats demote pitchers

Washington — The Washington Nationals optioned right-handers Jason Bergmann and Garrett Mock to Triple-A Syracuse, part of a series of moves to set their 25-man active roster.