Royals 6, Rangers 3: Billy Butler and Josh Willingham homered in support of Yordano Ventura as visiting Kansas City took the opener of a three-game series from Texas.

Lorenzo Cain added three hits and an RBI and Mike Moustakas had two hits as the Royals extended their lead in the American League Central to 2 1/2 games over the Detroit Tigers. Ventura (10-9) allowed one run on four hits while striking out six and three relievers bridged the gap to Greg Holland, who worked the ninth for his 40th save.

Colby Lewis (8-11) was reached for four runs and six hits in as many innings for the Rangers (49-78), who remained the only team in the majors yet to reach 50 wins. Adrian Beltre doubled among two hits and drove in a run for Texas.

Back-to-back one-out hits and Beltre’s RBI groundout gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first but Kansas City bounced right back in the next half-inning. Butler led off with a tying homer to left and Cain and Alcides Escobar delivered back-to-back RBI singles later in the three-run rally.

Willingham sent a towering shot to center leading off the fourth and Cain doubled, stole third and scored on an error in the seventh to push it to 5-1. Adam Rosales and Daniel Robertson hit back-to-back doubles to plate a run in the seventh and Alex Rios added an RBI groundout to chop it to 5-3.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Texas LHP Derek Holland (left knee) will throw his final rehab start at Triple-A Round Rock on Sunday and is expected to rejoin the team next week. … Kansas City C Salvador Perez (knee) had an MRI exam come back clean and returned to the lineup after sitting out Wednesday, going 0-for-5 with an RBI groundout in the ninth. … Beltre has recorded multiple hits in three straight games to boost his average to .323.