Rangers Lose To Royals 7-6 In 10th Inning
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Mike Olt picked a bad time for a rookie mistake,
Errors by Alberto Gonzalez and Olt in a three-pitch span allowed the tiebreaking run to score in the 10th inning, giving the last-place Kansas City Royals a 7-6 victory over the first-place Texas Rangers on Sunday.
"The kid feels bad," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "I told him to keep his head up."
With the score 6-6, Michael Kirkman (0-2) walked Billy Butler leading off the 10th. Gonzalez, who entered in the ninth when Elvis Andrus left because of a sore shoulder, booted a routine grounder by Salvador Perez as pinch-runner Eric Hosmer advanced,
Jeff Francoeur took a ball and then grounded to third. Olt, who made his major league debut Thursday, threw the ball into right field as Hosmer came home.
"I had a nice easy play," Olt said. "It's a play I make 99 times out of 100. The ball got away. It was a bad throw."
Greg Holland (4-3) threw 46 pitches in two innings, working around three hits and two walks.
Texas had threatened in the 10th, loading the bases with one out. But shortstop Alcides Escobar made a diving catch to his right of Mitch Moreland's line drive for the second out and Holland struck out Olt on a 3-2 pitch.
"The opportunity was there," Washington said. "The one Moreland hit; that one hurt the most. I thought that was through. Give Escobar credit for making that play."
Olt walked leading off the ninth, stole second and took third on a throwing error by Perez, the Royals catcher. But Andrus failed to get a bunt down and Olt was out at home on the failed squeeze attempt.
"It wasn't a good pitch to bunt, but you have to go down with it and make contact," Washington said. "I know it was a pretty bad pitch, but it's a squeeze. You have to make contact any way you can. They didn't sniff it out; it just happened to be a bad pitch."
Derek Holland gave up six runs and eight hits in six innings — he allowed two homers, raising his total to nine in his last four starts.
"I didn't give my team a chance to win," Holland said. "They scored some runs and I gave them back. It was pathetic. I'm very upset with myself. I'm supposed to step up and I threw like garbage all day."
Holland failed to hold a 5-2 lead.
"He was inconsistent," Washington said. "We put up five runs, and he couldn't stop them."
Royals starter Luke Hochevar gave up five runs — one earned — and four hits in six innings. He threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of his first 16 batters.
Perez hit a two-run double with two outs in the first, but a throwing error by first baseman Billy Butler on David Murphy's grounder led to four unearned runs in a five-run fourth.
Adrian Beltre singled in a run, ending a streak of 12 games without an RBI — his longest since going 15 games without any starting the 2006 season. Beltre's hit scored Josh Hamilton, who led off the inning with a double, and stopped an 0-for-15 slide with runners in scoring position.
Olt had a sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track with the bases loaded, and Andrus hit a two-run triple.
Butler singled in a run in the bottom half, Francoeur's fifth-inning homer cut the gap to 5-4 and Bryan Pena hit a two-run homer in the sixth to put the Royals back ahead. Four of Pena's 14 career home runs have been against the Rangers, his most against any club.
Michael Young's RBI double tied it 6-all in the seventh. Andrus attempted to score on Young's double, but was thrown out by Escobar on the relay from center fielder Jarrod Dyson.
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