The Kansas City Royals (61-75) surrendered home runs at crucial junctures in a 7-6 loss to the Texas Rangers (81-55) on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Royals starter Everett Teaford (1-4) struck out five and gave up three runs in 4.1 innings, but all three runs came in a rough first inning for the lefty. After giving up a single to Ian Kinsler and walking Josh Hamilton, Teaford served up a three-run homer to Adrian Beltre. Beltre's 29th home run of the year gave the Rangers a lead they would not relinquish.
When a Salvador Perez RBI double pulled the Royals within one run in the bottom of the sixth, Rangers second baseman Michael Young led off the seventh with a solo homer, which began another three-run inning for Texas.
In the eighth inning, Jeff Francoeur, Eric Hosmer, and David Lough combined a walk, a hit, and a sacrifice fly into two runs, but it wasn't enough.
Ryan Dempster (10-6) grabbed the win for Texas, who increased its AL West lead to five games after an Oakland loss. The two teams finish their four-game series tomorrow night, as the Royals' Luke Hochevar (7-13) takes the hill against Scott Feldman (6-11) for Texas.
Head over to Royals Review for more Kansas City baseball coverage, and check out Lone Star Ball for more on the Rangers. Also visit Baseball Nation for even more news and analysis from around the league.
