ARLINGTON, Texas Brad Keller didnt have a dominant performance on the mound, but he certainly kept the Royals in a position to come away with a win. The problem with that was that Rangers right-hander Adrian Sampson handcuffed the Royals so thoroughly that Keller needed to be near perfect on Sunday afternoon.
Sampson, who made his 11th career start in the majors, held the Royals to one run on eight hits. He didnt walk a batter and struck out a career-best 11. The lone run he allowed came on Jorge Solers sixth-inning home run.
The Royals dropped the series finale against the Texas Rangers, 5-1, in front of an announced 21,891 in Globe Life Park. The Royals go into their day off on Monday having lost three consecutive games and coming off a 1-6 road trip.
Keller (3-7) allowed three runs on nine hits in seven innings, and he struck out six. After having struggled mightily with command this season, Keller has walked just one in his last 13 innings (two starts).
Trailing 1-0 but with runners on second and third, Keller faced a potential turning point in the third inning. He got to a 3-2 count against Rangers left-handed hitting outfielder Nomar Mazara in the middle of what was ultimately a 10-pitch at-bat.
Royals manager Ned Yost popped out of the dugout and strolled to the mound for a conference with Keller, catcher Cam Gallagher and the rest of the infield. Keller came out of that chit-chat and got Mazara to ground out sharply to first base, giving the runners no shot to advance, and then got an inning-ending ground ball to shortstop by Hunter Pence.
The Royals loaded the bases while down by a run in the fifth with no outs. Gallagher singled to left field, and then Terrance Gore and Billy Hamilton followed with back-to-back bunt singles. Whit Merrifield lined out to third base, Adalberto Mondesi struck out swinging on a high changeup and Alex Gordon froze on a curveball called for strike three.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the Rangers quickly put runners in scoring position again to keep the pressure on Keller. Shin-Soo Choos looping line drive dropped just in front of Hamiltons dive in center field for a leadoff single, and Danny Santana doubled to put runners on second and third.
Keller uncorked a wild pitch to allow Choo to score, and Mazaras RBI single to left created a 3-0 lead for the Rangers.
Solers 15th home run of the season, a solo blast, took a bite out of that lead in the sixth inning.
The Royals left the bases loaded in the eighth as the Rangers went to their bullpen. Shelby Miller came in and ended the threat.
The Rangers tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth inning against relievers Scott Barlow and Jake Diekman (one run each).
