The Texas Rangers chased down the Royals' one-run leads three times in the late innings Tuesday night. But as much as the Rangers battled, they were actually fighting themselves.
Whether it was the bullpen, baserunning or blunders in the outfield, the mis-takes added up to a 7-6 loss in the 10th inning.
With no lefthander available, righty Stolmy Pimentel was called upon to pitch to lefty Alex Gordon in the 10th. Gordon hit the first pitch from Pimentel out of the park and the Rangers went down meekly in the bottom of the 10th.
Maybe they were out of gas after making up one-run deficits in the sixth, sev-enth and ninth innings. But on a night when the Rangers collected 14 hits, it proba-bly shouldn't have come down to a desperate 10th inning.
"I feel bad for them," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "Twenty-five guys that battled all night long."
The Rangers had no lefthander in the bullpen in the 10th because their one lefty reliever, Alex Claudio, was used to face the lefthanded-hitting Mike Mousta-kas in the seventh.
Claudio had Moustakas down 0-2 when he floated a pitch over the plate. Moustakas sent it rocketing into the right field seats for a 5-4 Royals lead.
"[Claudio] was trying to get a ball running off the plate, left it over the plate and a good hitter hit it out of the ballpark," Banister said. "That's what good hitters do. When you leave a ball over the plate, they make you pay. We've got to make sure we execute those pitches in those situations."
Claudio wasn't alone in failing to execute Tuesday night. Shin-Soo Choo got thrown out in the bottom of the seventh trying to advance from first to third on an Elvis Andrus single to left.
Adrian Beltre, after knocking in a tying run in the bottom of the ninth, got picked off first base to end the inning.
Defensively, Carlos Peguero struggled in left field while a wide throw by shortstop Elvis Andrus, his ninth error of the season, led to a run.
Closer Neftali Feliz was brought in to keep the game tied in the ninth and in-stead gave up a potential game-winning run.
"Obviously to beat a team that was in the World Series last year, and they're playing well now, you've got to make sure that you make all the plays that you need to make," Banister said. "You don't give them extra chances."
The extra chances ruined starter Nick Martinez' sixth consecutive quality start. Martinez gave up his first home run this season to Eric Hosmer in the second in-ning, but it was a three-run sixth that cost him and the Rangers, who had built a 3-1 lead to that point.
Choo collected three hits, including a leadoff home run, to stretch his hitting streak to 12 games.
Delino DeShields, a late addition to the lineup because of Leonys Martin's sore wrist, provided a hit, two walks and scored twice out of the No. 9 spot.
But for all the good the Rangers did offensively, mistakes elsewhere eventual-ly added up to a loss.
"It just seems like right now when we make a mistake," Banister said, "we're paying for it."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
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