Couldn’t quite hold on. The Rangers lost a sloppy one to the Kansas City Royals 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth at Kaufman Stadium.

Rangers drop one to Kansas City.

Rangers can’t catch a break against Royals.

Sweep falls out of Rangers’ reach.

Choo bobble heads day in KC.

Rangers stumble back under .500.

Rangers draw Royal flush in KC.

The clichés drop from the sky like a Lorenzo Cain’s fly ball drops from Shin-Soo Choo’s glove in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Rangers played one of their sloppier games of the year, and were ham-handed their first loss of the second half, a 4-3 royal misadventure.

Kansas City was gifted three runs. In the first, on a Yu Darvish wild pitch. In the seventh, on a ball that left fielder Nomar Mazara kicked around, allowing the runner to take an extra base and score from first. And in the ninth, on a walk, a hit batter, and then a fly ball that bounced off Shin-Soo Choo’s glove in right field which was, somehow, ruled a single.

The scrappy Rangers kept fighting back, but in the end, they couldn’t snag the win. Victory was just out of reach. The Rangers dropped below .500. Texas stumbled at the finish.

Now, the team that is home run or bust goes into Camden Yards in Baltimore, where the ball flies out of the park faster than the clichés fly out of the keyboard.

Here’s hoping the next thing the Rangers drop is a ball over the center field wall, or two, or a dozen.

The next four are going to be home run derby. For both teams.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Andrew Cashner (4-7, 3.54) vs. Chris Tillman (1-5, 7.90)
Game time: 6:05

How the Rangers hit against Tillman.
How the Orioles hit against Cashner.