The Kansas City Royals have selected Bobby Witt Jr., a shortstop from Colleyville Heritage High School (Texas), with the second overall pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft. Witt Jr. is the third player chosen second overall in Royals history, joining Alex Gordon (2005) and Mike Moustakas (2007).

He is the son of right-handed pitcher Bobby Witt, who played 16 seasons with seven different teams in the Majors from 1986-2001, and was the third overall pick by Texas in the 1985 Draft. The Witts are the ninth father-son duo selected in the first round and the first to be selected within the first three picks. They pass Tom Grieve (6th overall in 1968) and Ben Grieve (2nd overall in 1994) as the highest-drafted father-son duo.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joey Gallo stood in center field trying not to beat himself up after misplaying two fly balls into triples as he and the Texas Rangers trailed the Kansas City Royals by two runs going into the sixth inning.

Soon enough, Gallo took out his frustrations on the baseball.

Gallo’s first career grand slam capped a six-run, sixth inning outburst as the Rangers rallied past the Royals 6-2 Friday night.

The Rangers have won five of their last six home games while the Royals have lost of four of their last five overall.

Gallo’s home run, his team-leading 16th of the season, sailed 457 feet and landed in the second seating area beyond the center-field wall.

“Things turned around quick,” Gallo said. In his first season playing regularly in center, he also redeemed himself defensively by finishing the game with a diving catch in left-center on a ball hit by Billy Hamilton.

Ariel Jurado (2-2) won for the first time in three major league starts this season. Jurado allowed two runs on five hits and three walks. The second-year right-hander, who was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on April 26, had career highs in strikeouts (six) and pitches (101).

All of that on a night when his parents, Ariel Sr. and Yizel, had traveled from Panama to see him pitch in the majors for the first time.

“That was something special,” Jurado said through an interpreter.

With Jurado outpitched by veteran Royals left-hander Danny Duffy through five innings, Rangers manager Chris Woodward thought his youngster deserved a better fate given the circumstances.

“I’m saying a little prayer ’cause the baseball gods should be with us on this one,” Woodward said. “Like, I was hoping for three (runs).”

Duffy (3-2) lost for the first time since April 26, his first start of the season after recovering from last year’s shoulder injury. Carrying a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning, he allowed all six runs, six hits and two walks — both in the sixth.

“This game will rip your heart out sometimes,” Duffy said. “But I’ve got to turn the page after tonight and go back out there, try to be better next time.”

Texas loaded the bases in the sixth inning on outfield singles by Shin-Soo Choo and Elvis Andrus and a chopper hit between third base and the mound by Hunter Pence. Duffy fielded Pence’s grounder, but his throw to first base was late.

Duffy walked Nomar Mazara with the bases loaded to tie the score 2-2. Gallo then launched a 1-1 fastball to end a six-game homerless streak, which matched his longest this season.

Cheslor Cuthbert homered in his first major league at-bat of the season, and Alex Gordon tripled-in Kansas City’s other run. Cuthbert, who earlier Friday had his contract selected from Triple-A Omaha, hit an opposite-field homer that just cleared the right-field wall in the second and also made a standout play at third base.

“He’s always been a really good defender at third base for us,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of Cuthbert. “That’s kind of expected.”

Gordon’s triple in the fifth inning turned around Gallo and struck about midway up the wall in straightaway center, scoring Adalberto Mondesi. In the third inning, Gallo broke in on a fly ball hit by Whit Merrifield that went over his head for a triple.

All of that was forgotten in the bottom of the sixth.

SHORT HOPS

Jesse Chavez, the first of three Texas relievers, worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning. He ran his scoreless streak to 17 1/3 innings in May, a franchise record for one month. … The Royals lead the majors with 24 triples. … Mondesi had his major league-leading 19th stolen base to give the Royals a major league-leading 53.

PRE-GAME MOVES

To make room for Cuthbert, the Royals designated INF-OF Chris Owings for assignment. The Rangers selected the contract of RHP David Carpenter from Nashville and optioned OF Zack Granite to Nashville.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Hunter Dozier (right thorax tightness) is day to day, leaving Thursday’s game in the fifth inning and sitting out Friday.

Rangers: OF Willie Calhoun (left quad strain) will begin on-field work on Saturday.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Homer Bailey (4-5, 5.79), having joined the Royals this winter following 12 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, will make his Globe Life Park debut on Saturday.

Rangers: RHP Lance Lynn (6-3, 4.67) has lowered his ERA from 6.51 over his last six starts, going 4-2.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Jorge Soler and Adalberto Mondesi homered and Jakob Junis allowed two runs in six innings as the Kansas City Royals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over Texas Rangers on Thursday night.

Junis (4-5) allowed four hits, including homers by Shin-Soo Choo and Nomar Mazara, and two walks for his first win since May 1. The victory follows three losses and a no-decision.

Ian Kennedy worked a perfect ninth inning for his third save, and the first for Kansas City since May 1.

The Royals improved to 8-20 away from Kauffman Stadium, but still have the worst road record in the majors.

Mike Minor (5-4) allowed three runs on seven hits in five-plus innings, matching the most runs he has allowed in his last seven starts. Minor entered the game ranked fourth in the American League in ERA at 2.55, and had given up two earned runs in his previous 30 innings at Globe Life Park.

Soler’s three-run home run struck the foul pole in left field and was his career-best 14th this season. His previous best was 12 homers with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

Mondesi had his fifth three-hit game of the season.

Choo’s homer was his sixth in the last 12 games and the 199th of his career.

Minor took a four-hit shutout into the sixth inning. After Mondesi left off with a single to left field, left-handed hitting Alex Gordon hit a grounder to the left side against the shift. Third baseman Asdrubal Cabrera began to field the ball to his left before letting it go through to shortstop Elvis Andrus, whose throw to second base wasn’t in time. Soler then hit a first-pitch fastball at the top of the strike zone.

SHORT HOPS

Mondesi, the majors’ leader in stolen bases with 18, was picked off by the left-handed Minor with an 0-2 count on Hunter Dozier to end the third inning. . Chris Owings, Billy Hamilton and Whit Merrifield each struck out four times. . It was the first game of a season-long 11-game Rangers homestand.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Dozier left the game after 4 1/2 innings with right-sided thorax tightness, replaced in the lineup by Gordon.

Rangers: CF Joey Gallo (wrist) returned to the lineup after leaving Tuesday’s game at Seattle as a precaution and sitting out Wednesday’s game as previously planned. Gallo went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and one walk. . OF Scott Heineman (shoulder) was recalled from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Nashville because of soreness.

UP NEXT

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (3-1, 3.12 ERA) has pitched to a 1.80 ERA in his last five starts against Texas.

Rangers: The parents of RHP Ariel Jurado (1-2, 2.28) will see him pitch as a pro for the first time during their first trip to the United States.

CHICAGO (AP) – Although he didn’t think the Royals were throwing at him intentionally, Tim Anderson still took pleasure in scoring a measure of revenge.

Six innings after being beaned with a pitch from Kansas City starter Glenn Sparkman, Anderson doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth, lifting the Chicago White Sox to an 8-7 victory over the Royals on Wednesday night.

Jose Abreu hit a three-run homer, Yoan Moncada also connected and the White Sox swept a three-game series for the first time this season.

Sparkman struck Anderson in the bill of his helmet in the second with nobody out, a runner on first and the White Sox leading 2-1. Anderson’s helmet was knocked off his head, and plate umpire Mark Carlson immediately ejected the 27-year-old right-hander.

It was Anderson’s first at-bat of the series. He had appeared as a pinch runner on Tuesday.

Last month, he was hit by Kansas City’s Brad Keller in the backside after an elaborate bat flip on a home run in his previous at-bat. That sparked a benches-clearing scuffle. Keller was suspended five games and Anderson for one.

“I think it was just bad timing,” Anderson said of Sparkman’s pitch. “But it happened and I was able to get the hit to win the game. It was payback. It felt good, man.”

Sparkman was making his second start of the season.

“Coming into this series, we had no animosity toward that young man,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of Anderson. “None. And to think that we’re gonna hit him on purpose is ludicrous, one, and two, it was a changeup.

“It was forgotten. He had done his part, we had done our part. It was over.”

Carlson, talking to a pool reporter, said last month’s incident was a factor in the decision.

“We were aware of a previous situation between the two clubs involving Tim Anderson,” he said. “When the pitcher threw the ball up and in and hit him in the head, that raises an awareness to us and we have to make a decision on what we want to do to handle that situation.”

Jorge Soler homered and drove in three runs for Kansas City.

Kelvin Herrera (2-3) got the win despite giving up two runs and Alex Colome got the final three outs for his 11th save. He saved all three games of the series.

Ian Kennedy (0-2) took the loss.

HOW THEY SCORED

Moncada’s two-run homer in the first gave Chicago a 2-0 lead. After Kansas City got a run back in the second on an RBI single by Soler, the White Sox broke things open with five runs in the wild bottom half of the inning.

After Sparkman was ejected, Yolmer Sanchez greeted Jorge Lopez with an RBI single, scoring Eloy Jimenez from second base. Charlie Tilson then made it 4-1 with an RBI groundout. Abreu’s three-run smash made it 7-1.

Kansas City put together a four-run sixth against a tiring Reynaldo Lopez (career-high 118 pitches) to pull within 7-5. The Royals then tied the game with two runs in the eighth off Herrera.

JUST A BIT OUTSIDE

Mary Ruich wasn’t expecting much from her ceremonial first pitch. Certainly not national attention. “I knew it wasn’t going to be good, but I thought I’d be close,” she said Wednesday. “It was scary.”

Ruich threw one of the most wayward ceremonial first pitches ever when she plunked a team photographer standing close by, between the mound and first base line, prior to Tuesday’s game.

The ball went right off Darren Georgia’s lens, nowhere near the plate. Ruich, a server in one of the Guaranteed Rate Field restaurants, earned the honor as a White Sox employee of the homestand, the team’s version of employee of the month.

“When I saw the camera get bobbled,” Ruich said, “I was like, ‘Oh my God! Maybe nobody saw that. I’ll just run away.”‘

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: SS Anderson wasn’t in the lineup the previous four games because of right wrist soreness.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (3-5, 5.58 ERA) pitches Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Texas. LHP Mike Minor (5-3, 2.55) goes for the Rangers.

White Sox: LHP Manny Banuelos (2-4, 7.71 ERA) makes his seventh start of the season Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series with Cleveland. RHP Carlos Carrasco (4-5, 4.60) pitches for the Indians.