Rangers rally for win at Kansas City
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

IN THERE! - Kansas City pitcher Ramon Ramirez (left) is late on the tag on Texas Rangers' Ian Kinsler (5) as Kinsler scores on a passed ball in the ninth inning Tuesday. The Rangers won 6-5.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Royals gave the team with the major's best offense an extra out, and they paid for it.

Ian Kinsler scored the goahead run on a passed ball in the ninth inning and the Texas Rangers used five unearned runs to rally from four down to beat Kansas City 6-5 Tuesday.

"If the ball got by him, I was gone," Kinsler said. "There's really no thought process that goes into that. In that situation, we have a tie game and there's two out. If he let one go, I'm gone."

The Rangers (33-33) play again in KC tonight, a 7 p.m. start.

Kinsler led off the ninth with a double against Yasuhiko Yabuta (1-1), the fourth of five Royals pitchers. He advanced on a groundout and scored from third when Ramon Ramirez's pitch got away from catcher John Buck.

Eddie Guardado (1-1) picked up the victory, while C.J. Wilson worked the ninth for his 12th save in 14 opportunities. Wilson gave up a two-out single to Alex Gordon and Jose Guillen reached on an error before Mark Teahen struck out looking.

First baseman Teahen's error in the eighth opened the door for the Rangers to score four runs off three Kansas City relievers with two outs to tie the score 5-all. Teahen dropped Mike Aviles' throw, which would have ended the inning.

"It sunk on me and handcuffed me and I dropped it," Teahen said. "I gave then an extra out and they did everything they needed to do with it."

After the error, Milton Bradley, who leads the American League with a .338 average, had a two-run double. David Murphy, who leads all American League rookies with 41 RBIs, singled home Bradley. Chris Shelton singled home Murphy with the tying run. "We're a good offensive team and can comeback from any deficit and we showed that tonight," Kinsler said of the Rangers, who have score a major leagueleading 367 runs this season.

Guillen, who is hitting .380 since May 7, went 3-for-5 and drove in a run and scored a run. Guillen singled home David DeJesus in the first for his 49th RBI. The Royals made it 2-0 in the fourth when Guillen, who led off the inning with his American League-leading 22nd double, scored on Buck's single. Alex Gordon ended a 107 at-bat homerless drought with a home run in the fifth.

The Rangers scored their only run off Royals starter Gil Meche in the sixth, when Ramon Vazquez led off with a double. With the bases loaded and none out, Vazquez scored on Josh Hamilton fielder's choice. The inning also included a single by Michael Young, who extended his hitting streak to 23 games.

"The game is nine innings and in the eighth and the ninth we put enough runs to win it," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "The way the game is supposed to be done, try to eliminate the opportunities you give the opposition and take advantage of the opportunities they give to you. Teahen misses that ball and we took advantage of it."