Rangers Lose To Royals In Extra Innings

Looking to build on a whopper of a one-game winning streak, the Rangers allowed 3 runs in the top of the 10th to fall 4-1 to Kansas City on Saturday afternoon.

Nick Tepesch looked strong, again, navigating 6.1 innings only surrendering 1 run on 7 hits. Though his strikeout totals are nothing to write home about, Tepesch did not allow a runner to reach base via a walk.

After Tepesch, the Rangers went through their high-leverage rotation of Neal Cotts (0.2 IP), Tanner Scheppers (1.0 IP) and Joe Nathan (1.0 IP), who combined to strike out 6 Royals in 2.2 frames. The offense kept the Rangers from winning on Saturday, with the pitching staff doing everything they could to keep the team in the game. Then it all sort of unraveled on Robbie Ross in the top of the 10th;

Here’s the play-by-play (per FanGraphs):

– Alcides Escobar singled to center.

– Eric Hosmer singled to left — Alcides Escobar advanced to 3B. Eric Hosmer advanced to 2B.

– Billy Butler was intentionally walked.

– Mike Moustakas struck out swinging.

– Lorenzo Cain struck out swinging.

– David Lough was hit by a pitch — Alcides Escobar scored. Eric Hosmer advanced to 3B. Billy Butler advanced to 2B.

– George Kottaras doubled to right — Eric Hosmer scored. Billy Butler scored. Jeff Francoeur advanced to 3B.

And that was all she wrote. Royal pitching held the Ranger offense to 9 total base runners (6 hits, 3 walks), and only one of them managed to score. Yeah, just an overall sloppy day from the offense and defense. Sorry about baseball, Nick and Robbie.

– Lance Berkman was ejected for arguing with the home plate umpire in the first inning on a highly questionable called third strike, but it was the correct move for the ump to make in that position. It’s a rookie umpire trying to establish some credibility by not putting up with any verbal abuse from a veteran like #LakeDad. Yes, it was a terrible call. Yes, Lance Berkman had a right to argue. But given the umpire’s disposition, conflated with how early in the game it was, I understand why he made the call to eject Lance.

– Adrian Beltre appeared to have something go wrong in his hamstring area while scoring the Rangers’ only run. I don’t want to speak too soon of the severity of the situation, but it didn’t look good, and this quite frankly isn’t the time for another significant piece to fall from the lineup.