Neftali Feliz might be relying too much on his fastball.
Feliz couldn't close it out in the ninth and Dave Bush was rocked for three homers in a five-run 14th inning as the Rangers lost 12-7 to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Feliz came on to protect a 7-6 lead, but Alex Gordon hit a fastball 423 feet into the upper deck in right field to tie it. Feliz had his third blown save in 13 chances.
Feliz primarily is using his fastball just as he did last season when he had 40 saves and was AL Rookie of the Year. But this season, opponents are expecting heat, and they're having more success.
"Last year, he used his fastball and he got people out," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "If Gordon doesn't catch that fastball, he pops it up, everything's cool. But that's the way it goes."
Feliz had thrown 10 straight fastballs when Gordon connected. The Rangers would like Feliz to mix in more breaking pitches, but Washington has said repeatedly that he's not going to call pitches from the dugout.
"Up to that point, the fastball was doing pretty good," Washington said. "(Pitching coach Mike Maddox) mentioned (avoiding the reliance on the fastball), start using his breaking stuff, and he went out the next inning and did it."
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Hosmer, called up from Triple-A Omaha on May 6, was in a 2-for-20 slide entering the game. He finished with four hits and four RBIs for the first time in his career.
Cabrera hit a drive over the center field fence off Bush (0-1) to snap a 7-all tie, and Hosmer gave the Royals a two-run lead. Brayan Pena added a three-run homer off Bush.
Blake Wood (2-0), the sixth Royals pitcher, threw a perfect 13th for the win.
Ian Kinsler and David Murphy homered in a five-run first for the Rangers, but Texas was shut out by the Royals bullpen over the final 12 innings.
"I never like giving credit to the opposing pitching staff, but they obviously did something right," Murphy said. "We never got it going after the starter was out."
Royals rookie Nate Adcock was knocked around for seven runs and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings in his second big-league start.
Texas starter Colby Lewis also struggled early as Kansas City scored three times in the first. Gordon, Cabrera and Hosmer opened the game with doubles, and Wilson Betemit contributed a run-scoring single.
Lewis had allowed three runs in his previous three starts over a span of 23 innings.
Kinsler got the bottom of the first underway with his third leadoff homer of the season and 16th of his career, extending his club record.
Later in the inning, Michael Young added a run-scoring double, Cruz had an RBI groundout, and Murphy's two-run blast gave the Rangers a 5-3 advantage.
In the second, Hosmer's two-run single and Billy Butler's RBI single gave Kansas City a 6-5 edge. Two of the three runs were unearned because of catcher Yorvit Torrealba's throwing error on Alcides Escobar's sacrifice bunt.
Texas answered with a two-run second aided by Jeff Francoeur's overthrow from right field on Elvis Andrus' single. The ball sailed into the photo well to the left of the Royals dugout for an error, allowing Kinsler to score from first and Andrus to take third. Andrus crossed the plate on Josh Hamilton's groundout to put Texas back in front, 7-6.
From there, Lewis settled down, retiring the last 10 batters he faced and 13 of his last 14.
Lewis, who's lasted at least six innings in each of his last six starts, gave up six runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in six innings.
"He was getting the ball up early and couldn't command his fastball," Washington said. "I never thought he'd make it to six, but he did so I tip my hat to him. He fought and got us six innings."
NOTES: Kinsler snapped a streak of 30 games without a homer. ... Rangers RHP Brandon Webb had his final bullpen session before he begins a minor league rehab assignment. He's scheduled to start for Double-A Frisco on Monday night. Webb, the 2006 NL Cy Young winner for the Arizona Diamondbacks who's currently on the 60-day disabled list, is trying to come back from right rotator cuff surgery in August of 2009. ... Hamilton was DH for the third straight game but is expected to be in LF on Saturday night. Hamilton missed 36 games due to a broken bone in his right shoulder, and wants to reclaim his spot in the outfield. ... The Rangers went over 1 million in home attendance, their second fastest to that total at Rangers Ballpark behind their first season there in 1994.
