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Cole Hamels helped the Texas Rangers keep rolling against a Kansas City Royals team caught in a freefall.

Hamels allowed four singles over seven innings Authentic Logan Couture Jersey , Delino DeShields doubled home two runs and the Rangers beat the Royals 4-1 on Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to a season-high four games.

The Royals have lost eight straight, matching their season high, and 14 of 15. They own a major league-worst 10-28 home record, and their 22-51 overall mark is the worst in franchise history after 73 games.

Hamels (4-6) picked up his first win since May 22. The run off him in the fifth was unearned, and he has yet to allow an earned run in 20 innings over three starts at Kauffman Stadium.

”To be able to get the runs that we did in the second and third, that was huge,” Hamels said. ”Just to kind of let you settle down and I felt good from there.”

Keone Kela pitched a spotless ninth for his 17th save in as many chances.

DeShields’ second-inning double scored Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Robinson Chirinos.

Kiner-Falefa, who had three hits and walked, doubled home Adrian Beltre in the third. Jurickson Profar scored the second run of the inning after third baseman Mike Moustakas‘ fielding error to make it 4-0.

”Early in the day he (Kiner-Falefa) wasn’t initially in the lineup, but it’s a testament to what he does every single day, the professionalism he shows up with, even as a young player, a rookie player, he comes prepared,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. ”He was one of the first players at the ballpark ready to play and he came up big for us tonight with the doubles.”

Royals starter Jason Hammel (2-8) was removed after 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and four walks. Hammel is 0-6 in nine home starts since an Aug. 20 victory over Cleveland.

”Four walks and two of them came around to score Eagles Cheap Jerseys ,” Hammel said. ”That’s the thing that will irk me as I’m trying to sleep. I had trouble gripping the ball the first few innings. I was just sweating like a dog. It’s an excuse. It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole career. I sweat a lot.”

Rosell Herrera’s two-out double in the fifth scored Alex Gordon with the Kansas City run.

Whit Merrifield led off the Royals’ first with a walk, took second on a wild pitch and stole third with none out, but did not score. Salvador Perez grounded into his 12th double play after Moustakas walked to end the inning.

”We’ve hit into our 73rd double play of the year, something crazy,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”It just boggles your mind that that has happened so many times.”

Gordon picked up his seventh outfield assist of the season, throwing out Elvis Andrus trying to score from second on Profar’s ninth-inning single.

GAME TWO TIDBITS

The Rangers have more than half of their 31 victories in the second games of series. They are 16-8 in Game 2s.

JUST LIKE DAD

Adalberto Mondesi doubled off Rangers RHP Bartolo Colon on Monday. His father Raul Mondesi went 2 for 11 off Colon. The Mondesi family is the fourth father-son combo to each record a plate appearance against the 45-year-old pitcher.

ROSTER MOVES

Rangers: LHP Yohander Mendez was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock after violating team rules. RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx was recalled from the same club. … Texas traded RHP Deck McGuire to the Los Angeles Angels for cash or a player to be named.

Royals: RHP Heath Fillmyer was recalled from Triple-A Omaha, where he was 4-5 with a 5.75 ERA in 13 starts. He will be used in relief.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 1B Lucas Duda (right foot plantar fasciitis) went 2 for 5 with a three-run homer and a double in Omaha’s 9-2 victory Tuesday in Reno in his second minor league rehab game. OF Jorge Bonifacio, who is suspended for the first 80 games for violating the MLB’s drug policy, is hitting .448 in seven games with Omaha.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Bibens-Dirkx (0-1, 6.55) will start the series finale. He went 2-3 with a 4.47 ERA in 11 starts with Round Rock.

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (5-7, 4.43) has lost his past four decisions. He has never faced the Rangers.

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The market for legal sports gambling in the United States widened significantly on Tuesday with expanded betting in Delaware, putting legal wagering within driving distance of three major East Coast cities less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to accept the bets.

Instead of flying to Las Vegas or betting illegally, fans in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington can make a short drive to legally bet in Delaware on the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Final or the World Cup. More states are likely to join the action by the time the NFL starts its season in the fall.

”Giants and Yankees, all day Colts Game Jerseys , every day,” Manhattan native Karriem Keys said Tuesday after betting on the New York Giants to win the Super Bowl next year.

Keys, 53, who now lives in Dover, was one of a couple of dozen people laying down early wagers at Dover Downs as Delaware became the first state outside Nevada to offer legal gambling on individual sporting events.

”In New York, we would go right to the corner store, to the bodega, and bet,” Keys said. ”That’s not legal, but, you know, everybody was doing it. But now it’s legal so it’s great.”

Gov. John Carney had the honor of placing the first bet, wagering $10 on the Philadelphia Phillies to beat the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

”I’m a big sports fan, a big Philadelphia sports fan,” said Carney, who traveled to Minnesota in February to watch the Eagles win the Super Bowl.

Dover Downs casino workers took in 36 bets within the first 20 minutes of legal wagering. The offerings at Delaware’s three casinos include bets on professional baseball Vita Vea Jersey Buccaneers , football, hockey, basketball, soccer, golf and auto racing.

Because of a failed sports lottery experiment in 1976, Delaware was partially exempted from the 1992 federal ban on sports gambling that was recently struck down by the Supreme Court.

That exemption led to broader sports betting legislation passed in 2009 and Delaware’s NFL parlay wagering system, which gave the state a head start in offering more wagers.

”I just had to get in on the action, you know what I mean?” John Celatka of Dover said after betting on Tuesday night’s Colorado Rockies game and Wednesday night’s NBA Finals game.

Celatka said he’s done pretty well with NFL parlay wagers and single-game wagers was a logical next step.

”I’m excited to get started with football season,” he said. ”I like my chances.”

Fans in three other states could be placing bets by football season.

In New Jersey, which successfully challenged the federal ban, lawmakers hope to have a bill signed by the end of this week that resolves competing proposals to allow sports betting at casinos and horse racing tracks.

In Mississippi, where lawmakers proactively legalized sports gambling at the state’s 28 licensed casinos in anticipation of a favorable Supreme Court decision, regulators have proposed rules that could be voted on as early as June 21. That means casinos could start taking bets in late July.

West Virginia also passed a sports betting law before the Supreme Court decision, and officials there hope to have sports betting when football season kicks off. The West Virginia Lottery Commission is working on draft rules and regulations but has given no timetable for when they might be ready.

”We’re not going to start until we know we can do it 100 percent correctly,” lottery director Alan Larrick has said.

Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has said he wants state officials, professional leagues and casinos to reach an agreement on what the leagues have called an ”integrity fee” – money that the leagues would use to police betting patterns – but the subject was not addressed in a recent special legislative session.

Thus far Seahawks Will Dissly Jersey , no state law has made it to the books with the integrity fee attached.

Pennsylvania also prospectively legalized sports betting last year, but it could be months before regulations are in place that would allow sports books to open. State officials have not produced an estimate of what sort of tax revenue the activity could mean for Pennsylvania, which already rakes in more in taxes on casino gambling than any other state. But some gambling industry officials are warning that Pennsylvania’s 34 percent tax rate – plus another small cut for local governments that host casinos – and the $10 million licensing fee will make it unprofitable to run a legal sports betting business.

In the meantime, Pennsylvania gaming officials notified casinos last week they could begin applying for licenses. So far, none has submitted an application.

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Nuckols reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.
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