Royals score three in 10th to top Rangers

Arlington, TX – Robbie Ross plunked David Lough to force in the go-ahead run as the Kansas City Royals took down the Texas Rangers, 4-1, in 10 innings on Saturday.

Ross (2-1) allowed consecutive singles to start the 10th and walked Billy Butler intentionally to load the bases. He then fanned Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain, but a 2-1 fastball got away from him and struck Lough in the shoulder. George Kottaras followed with a two-RBI double off the wall to result in the final margin.

Before Saturday, Ross had given up just one run all season.

"He was in a good position to get out of that inning," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Ross. "You play the game long enough and things will finally not go your way and today it just didn't go his way."

Greg Holland closed it out for Aaron Crow (1-1), who tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. James Shields started for the Royals and went seven innings, yielding just a run on five hits while striking out five.

"I don't care about run support, as long as we get the win," Shields said. "The bottom line is we haven't been winning games when I'm in there. I have to do a better job of pitching better and doing my part."

Nick Tepesch opened on the hill for Texas, but was pulled after 6 1/3 innings despite throwing just 84 pitches, 62 of which went for strikes. He was charged with an unearned run on seven hits.

After 3 1/2 scoreless frames, Texas finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Shields retired the first two men he faced, but Adrian Beltre jump-started a two-out rally with a single to left. Nelson Cruz advanced Beltre to third with a single of his own, and Mitch Moreland's bloop to center plated the game's first run.

Kansas City got the run back a half-inning later when Tepesch's wild pitch allowed Lough, who reached on an infield single and advanced to third on Elliot Johnson's single to right, to sprint home without a throw.

The Royals threatened to take the lead when they loaded the bases in the seventh, but ultimately came up empty. Tepesch surrendered singles to Cain and Adam Moore around a Lough pop-up before giving way to Neal Cotts, who struck out Johnson for the second out but walked Alex Gordon before getting Alcides Escobar to fly out to center.

A.J. Pierzynski's bloop double put Rangers on second and third with two outs in the ninth, but Crow got Jurickson Profar to pop out to the catcher to force extras.

Game Notes

Rangers designated hitter Lance Berkman was ejected in the first inning after arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Todd Tichenor ... Beltre extended his hitting streak to nine games before leaving the game in the 10th inning with an apparent left hamstring injury ... Shields has gone at least six innings in 26 straight starts ... The Royals hit just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base ... Moore stole the second base of his career and first since 2009, when he was a member of the Seattle Mariners.