The Royals’ bats went silent for the most part in a 5-2 loss to the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium.

Rangers starter Doyle Alexander limited Kansas City to six hits as he pitched a complete game. He did not walk any and struck out three. The Royals’ runs both came in the seventh, as John Mayberry led off with a home run and Al Cowens also hit a solo shot with two outs. They were the fourth home runs of the season for both.

Kansas City did have a scoring chance in the third, when Freddie Patek got their first hit with a one-out triple. But Frank White and George Brett both grounded out to third, leaving Patek stranded.

Cowens doubled with two outs in the fifth, and Patek followed with an infield single, but Alexander got White on a popup.

Texas tagged Royals starter Larry Gura for six hits and five runs in 4 ⅔ innings. They took the lead in the second with solo home runs from Willie Horton and Bump Wills.

Then the Rangers added to their lead in the fourth as Mike Hargrove led off with a double and Horton singled. Texas more or less put the game away with two unearned runs in the fifth. Wills led off with a bunt single, took second on a groundout, and reached third on a wild pitch. Juan Beniquez hit a grounder back to the mound, but Gura made a wild throw home. Wills scored, while Beniquez advanced to second. He then scored on Claudell Washington’s double, giving Texas a 5-0 lead.

With Alexander cruising, that was plenty of offense for the Rangers.

The Royals dropped to 14-11 with the loss. They fell to fourth place in the AL West, although they were still just 1.5 games out of first.

Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX197705060.shtml

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