Rangers Fall Victim to Royals Attack

 For the third straight time against the Royals, the Rangers could not find an answer on how to stop the ‘Boys in Blue’ from hitting after the sixth inning. After securing a 10-9 lead after six, the Rangers squandered a late lead for the third time in 2007, losing 15-12.

      A hit parade from the start, both teams combined for 35 hits, knocking out the opposing starting pitchers by the fifth inning. The Royals started the game scoring twice off of a double by cleanup hitter Ben Ailes. The Rangers answered with a two-run double by Jonmarc Lippincott in the bottom of the inning. The Royals put a five-spot up in the second highlighted by Kevin Reynolds opposite field triple. The Rangers tied it in the bottom of the third with five runs of their own with RBI singles from Lippincott, Reis Pearson, and Shane Fallen and a sacrifice fly by Jelani Arnold.

The Rangers took a one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth when Clint Wolf scored on Lippincott’s grounder to short. But the Royals battled back with RBI hits from Matt Haver and Chad Campbell. The Rangers got the lead back in the fifth as Fallen singled in James Robinson, who doubled to start the inning, and Jared Bradley had a two-run single. After Bradley’s single, coach Franklin turned to veteran lefty Scott Falkowski to stop the onslaught. Falkowski only gave up two hits until the ninth inning, where staked with a 15-10 lead he allowed the first four batters to reach base. Rookie flame thrower Kyle Ubinger was brought out from the pen (actually third base) to make his MVABL debut on the mound. Ubinger sealed the win with a pop out, line out, and fly out to pick up his first save of the season.

The Rangers fell victim to a rocky Rotary terrain that saw the home team commit five errors on the day, and the Rangers had no answer to the Royals’ barrage of opposite field base hits. “They’re a team that puts the ball in play,” coach Lippincott commented. “They had to have hit at least 20-30 balls to the right side. They found the holes and we didn’t, plain and simple.”

Offensive performances of note: Clint Wolf 3-for-4, 3 runs; Jonmarc Lippincott 2-for-4, 4 RBIs, double (has reached base safely in 9 straight plate appearances); Reis Pearson 2-for-4; James Robinson 3-for-4, RBI, double; Shane Fallen 2-for-4, 2 RBIs, double; Jelani Arnold 2-for-4, sac.