This was one rough night for Ian Kinsler and Matt Harrison.
Kinsler was picked off third base and committed an error that led to two unearned runs during the Texas Rangers' 6-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night. Harrison was knocked out in the fifth inning of his second consecutive loss.
With one out in the third and Josh Hamilton at the plate, Kinsler strayed too far off third and Royals catcher Salvador Perez caught him.
"Normally with Josh up the third baseman is pretty far off the bag," Kinsler said. "I didn't check him and they got me."
Lorenzo Cain hit a leadoff grounder to Kinsler in the third, and the All-Star second baseman failed to make the play. Cain scored on Alcides Escobar's double, which snapped an 0-for-21 skid. Escobar went to third on Alex Gordon's groundout and scored on Billy Butler's sacrifice fly.
"I don't know if it's an error or not," Kinsler said. "I would have liked to have held that ball."
Harrison, who has pitched at least eight innings in eight starts this season, yielded Alex Gordon's two-run homer and Perez's RBI double before he was replaced by Roy Oswalt with two down in the fifth.
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"I had a quick fourth and then I just couldn't get out of the fifth," Harrison said. "I made some mistakes and left some pitches up. The home run was right down the middle. I was trying to go in with a two-seamer and it cut back in the middle of the plate. The double, he stayed back on it and drove it to the gap."
Harrison (15-9) fell to 10-5 away from home, tied with Tampa Bay ace David Price for the most road victories in the American League. The left-hander allowed five runs, three earned, and eight hits.
Jeremy Guthrie gave up five hits to the first 10 batters he faced, but nothing after Kinsler's double in the third. Guthrie (3-3) limited the Rangers to two runs over seven innings to pick up the victory.
Johnny Giavotella connected against Oswalt for his first home run since Sept. 3, 2011.
After Hamilton and Adrian Beltre started the ninth with singles off Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland came on to earn his 11th save in 13 opportunities. Hamilton scored on Michael Young's sacrifice fly.
Guthrie surrendered a home run to Elvis Andrus in the first inning. Mitch Moreland's double in the second scored Geovany Soto.
"The first inning we had the homer then the double by Moreland and the baserunning mistake," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "After Kinsler got picked off at third base, we didn't do much else after that. One play didn't change this game. We just didn't score any runs. We had Hamilton up there with less than two outs. I figured we were going to get that run in."
NOTES: Japan has committed to play in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, but Rangers RHP Yu Darvish was quiet when asked whether he will participate. Darvish refused to talk about the possibility, and issued a statement through the Rangers: "We're in the middle of the season. I have no comment on the issue." ... The Royals recalled RHP Jeremy Jeffress from Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Jeffress did not allow an earned run in 6 2-3 innings in two previous stints this season with Kansas City. ... 1B Eric Hosmer was held out of the Royals' lineup. Hosmer is hitting .224 against left-handers, and Harrison had limited lefty batters to a .189 average entering the game. ... Rangers C Mike Napoli, who went on the disabled list Aug. 11 with a strained quadriceps, ran on the field for the second consecutive day with cleats. If he has no soreness Wednesday, Napoli could try running the bases. ... LHP Everett Teaford will make a spot start Wednesday for the Royals. He is 3-2 with a 4.95 ERA in seven major league starts. The Rangers will counter with RHP Ryan Dempster.
