The Texas Rangers could not overcome the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.
The Texas Rangers' road struggles continued on Tuesday with a 5-3 series-opening loss to the Kansas City Royals.
Once again, the Rangers had a chance to get back to a .500 record, but ultimately fell short. So, what went wrong?
Ugly Middle Innings
For the Rangers, the game started well at Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
In the top of the second inning, following Wyatt Langford drew a walk and a double by Ezequiel Duran, Jake Burger hit an RBI single to make it a 1-0 game in favor of Texas. In the top of the fourth, aggressive base stealing by Evan Carter led to a throwing error by the Royals, which led Carter to score to make it a 2-0 game.
The Rangers were in a relatively comfortable situation, and right-hander Nathan Eovaldi was holding off the Royals’ hitters, but only until the fifth inning, when Jac Caglianone hit a solo home run to right center field to make it a 2-1 game.
From there, Eovaldi and the Rangers’ defense was able to force three-straight outs, but Caglianone’s homer would mark the beginning of a Royals onslaught.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Eovaldi gave up a leadoff double before getting Bobby Witt Jr. to ground out. Then, Eovaldi allowed an RBI triple that tied the game, and he subsequently gave up an RBI double that afforded Kansas City the lead.
After forcing a pop-out, Eovaldi’s night ended, and Skip Schumaker went to his bullpen. Caglianone stepped up to the plate once more, and he struck again.
With left-hander Jalen Beeks on the mound, Caglianone hit his second home run of the night. This time, it was a two-run shot to right center field again to cap off a four-run sixth inning for the Royals that gave them a 5-2 lead.
Unable to Respond
After holding a two-run lead in the early part of the game, the Rangers watched a five-run swing go against them, and they found themselves in a deep hole.
It would be too much to overcome.
In the top of the seventh inning, following a triple by Joc Pederson, Corey Seager hit an RBI groundout to score the former. However, it would be the last run the Rangers would score, and they would not log another hit the rest of the game.
Now with a 32-34 record, Texas will try to respond when it faces Kansas City for the second game of the series on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. CT.
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