The Texas Rangers figure they’ll be just fine if they keep focusing on themselves.

That’s why the AL West leaders were lounging on black leather sofas in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, hours before playing Kansas City, and stifling laughter as they watched comedian Robin Williams do a stand-up routine on television.

Rather than watching, say, second-place Oakland’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.

“Those guys aren’t worrying about that,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “If we take care of our business, it doesn’t matter what they do.”

Well, the Rangers certainly took care of their business. Adrian Beltre hit a three-run homer, Michael Young also went deep and Texas held on for a 7-6 victory over the Royals to open a five-game lead in the division after the A’s lost their matinee.

Ryan Dempster (5-1) gave up RBI doubles to Billy Butler in the first inning and Salvador Perez in the sixth, but was otherwise stingy for the Rangers. He only allowed two other hits in six sharp innings, striking out eight to win his fourth consecutive game.

“You know, I was in a situation where I was pitching for pride,” said Dempster, acquired in a July 31 trade with the Chicago Cubs. “Now I’m just trying to do my best every fifth day.”

Beltre’s homer came off Everett Teaford (1-4), who was making his fifth start of the year. Young’s solo shot came off Vin Mazzaro during a three-run seventh.

The runs proved handy when Kansas City mounted a late comeback. Alcides Escobar’s RBI single off Joe Nathan put the potential tying run on first with two outs in the ninth, but Alex Gordon flied out to end the game. It was Nathan’s 27th consecutive save.

Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz also drove in runs to help the Rangers (81-55) move a season-high 26 games above .500, and assure a club-record fourth straight season of .500 or better.

The 28-year-old Teaford was called upon to make his first start for Kansas City since July 8, when he allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings at Detroit. He’s been exemplary in long relief — he threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings last Saturday against Minnesota — but less effective as a starter.

That proved to be the case again Wednesday night.

Kinsler led off the game with a single, and after Andrus went down swinging, Josh Hamilton walked to put runners on first and second for the hottest hitter in the Texas lineup.

Beltre calmly waited for a 1-2 pitch from Teaford and sent it soaring over the left-field wall for a three-run homer, his 29th of the season. The ball landed just shy of the fountains.

“That’s what I’m supposed to be doing,” Beltre said demurely.

The slugging third baseman also tripled and scored in the eighth, giving him 10 homers, seven doubles and two triples since Aug. 20. Beltre has scored 15 runs and driven in 20 in that stretch.

“I saw his charts yesterday and the whole chart was like, red against lefties. It’s basically a heat map. Red would describe Kansas City in July, that kind of hot,” Teaford said. “If you make a bad pitch, he hits it real well. He’s tough. You’ve just got to hope to make good pitches.”

The Royals clawed back with runs in the first and sixth, but Texas added three in the seventh, the homer by Young starting things off. Kansas City added two more runs in the bottom half to keep it close, and the teams traded runs in the eighth before Nathan held on through a shaky ninth.

The veteran closer has 28 saves in 29 chances this season.

“We played catch-up all night, and when we’d get close they’d tack on,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “The three-run seventh did us in.”

— Associated Press —

Salvador Perez’s pickoff throw changed the momentum, and Jeremy Guthrie was unhittable after that.

Guthrie pitched seven strong innings and the Kansas City Royals got home runs from Alex Gordon and Johnny Giavotella in a 6-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

After giving up five hits to his first 10 batters, Guthrie did not allow another hit after Ian Kinsler led off the third with a double. Elvis Andrus bunted him to third, but Perez picked off Kinsler with Josh Hamilton at the plate.

“The big momentum shift was the throw by Salvy,” Guthrie said. “That was a huge sigh of relief for me. I scuffled up to that point. It gave me a big boost.”

Perez leads all major league catchers with three pickoffs this season even though he didn’t play until June 22 after having knee surgery in spring training.

“That’s a big play,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You’re staring down the barrel of being down 3-0 and you’ve got an All-Star pitcher on the mound with a tremendous offensive club. To pick a runner off third base and keep it 2-0, you still feel like you’ve got a chance for something to happen, and it did.”

Gordon broke a 2-all tie in the fifth with a two-run shot off Matt Harrison, the third home run he has allowed to a left-handed hitter this season.

“From experience, he likes to pound me in with fastballs,” Gordon said. “He does a pretty good job of laying it on the inside corner. It’s a tough pitch to hit. I just tried to wait him out and get a pitch out over the plate. I was able to do that and put a good swing on it.”

Guthrie (4-3) held the AL West leaders to two runs and five hits. He went 3-9 with Colorado before the Royals acquired him in a July 20 trade for Jonathan Sanchez.

“One play didn’t change this game,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “We just didn’t score any runs. We had Hamilton up there with less than two outs. I figured we were going to get that run in.”

After Perez’s run-scoring double with two outs, Harrison was replaced by Roy Oswalt. It was a rare short night for Harrison (15-9), who has pitched at least eight innings in eight starts. He fell to 10-5 away from home, tied with Tampa Bay ace David Price for the most road victories in the American League.

Harrison allowed five runs, three earned, and eight hits. The Royals scored a pair of unearned runs in the third after an error by Kinsler at second base.

Giavotella connected off Oswalt, ending a drought of 185 at-bats with his first home run since Sept. 3, 2011.

After Hamilton and Adrian Beltre started the ninth with singles off Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland came on to earn his 11th save in 13 opportunities. Hamilton scored on Michael Young’s sacrifice fly.

Guthrie gave up a home run to Andrus in the first inning. Mitch Moreland’s double in the second scored Geovany Soto.

Lorenzo Cain reached on Kinsler’s error in the third and scored on Alcides Escobar’s double, which snapped an 0-for-21 skid. Escobar went to third on Gordon’s groundout and scored on Billy Butler’s sacrifice fly.

After getting some help from his teammates, Guthrie cruised.

“When Salvy picked Kinsler off third base and he struck out Hamilton, he really got on a roll from that point,” Yost said. “He got settled in, was banging strikes and was extremely sharp. From the third inning on he was fantastic. A phenomenal job by him.”

— Associated Press —

Baseball America announced Tuesday that Kansas City Royals outfield prospect Wil Myers has been named the publications’ 2012 Minor League Player of the Year.  Myers becomes the third Royals prospect to win the prestigious award since its inception in 1981, joining Tom Gordon in 1988 and Alex Gordon in 2006.

Myers, 21, opened the 2012 campaign at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and batted .343 with 13 home runs and 30 RBI in 35 games before a promotion to Omaha in mid-May.  For the Storm Chasers, who begin their quest to repeat as PCL champions tomorrow night in Omaha, Myers hit .304 (118-for-388) with 15 doubles, five triples, 24 home runs and 79 RBI in 99 regular season games.  Overall, his 37 home runs were the second-most in minor league baseball, one shy of 26-year-old Darin Ruf who hit 38 for Reading (AA), while his 109 RBI ranked fourth overall.

The Royals’ third round selection in 2009 collected two hits and drove in three runs for the U.S. squad at the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in Kansas City on July 8 and then three days later was selected the “Star of Stars” for the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A All-Star Game after recording two hits, including a double, with an RBI and a run scored. Last week, he was named to the 12-member all Pacific Coast League squad and he is one of five finalists for USA Today Minor League Player of the Year.

— Royals Media Relations —