By ALAN ESKEW

SURPRISE, AZ -- Kyle Farnsworth became the leader in the clubhouse Thursday to win the fifth slot in the Kansas City Royals rotation when camp breaks in a few weeks.

One might wonder how could that be? Farnsworth, who last started in 2000 with the Chicago Cubs, does not even make his spring training debut until Monday with two innings against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Royals paraded four other rotation candidates to the mound Thursday in a 13-3 loss to the Texas Rangers in their first Cactus League game. All four had forgettable numbers, which might be normal for spring training. Except, when you’re on the bubble you can ill afford to look bad in March.

Zack Greinke can have a 12.00 earned run average in spring training, but he will still start the April 5 season opener. Robinson Tejeda and Kyle Davies better not have inflated March ERAs, not if they want to be in the Kansas City rotation. Long-shot rotation candidates like Anthony Lerew and Phillip Humber must be nearly flawless in spring training if they are to catapult over others.

Their first spring training impressions on Thursday were not good ones.

Davies pitched out of first inning trouble, stranding Julio Borbon, who reached third with one out. In the second, Davies permitted four runs on four hits, including a three-run homer to Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a 2-2 pitch.

Tejeda replaced Davies in the third and gave up a run on two hits and a walk in his initial inning. He allowed another run on two hits and a walk in the fourth.

Humber, a non-roster invitee, pitched a scoreless fifth, but surrendered three hits and a run in the sixth.

Lerew, who made two starts last September, was touched for two runs on five hits in two innings. Four of the hits and both runs came in his second inning of work.

Plus non-roster right-hander Matt Herges, who pitched well in relief last year with Cleveland and Colorado and has an opportunity to win a bullpen vacancy, had a rough outing. Herges allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits, including a three-run homer to Matt Brown.

The spring training opener was not a thing of beauty and manager Trey Hillman was none too happy.

“We just didn’t pitch well,” Hillman said. “In my three years here, I can’t remember this early that many guys getting behind in the count and that many guys leaving pitches up. We just left too many pitches up. Everybody knows that club can hit. Everybody knows this is Arizona (where the ball carries), but we made it pretty easy for them. We didn’t locate well at all.

“Kyle was behind more than he was ahead. Robinson was behind more than he was ahead. Phillip had a good first inning then he fell behind in his second frame and started leaving pitches up. We were just up, up a lot.”

The fact the shoddy results came from pitchers competing for spots made it even more exasperating.

“You always hope for better outings,” Hillman said. “You can’t panic too much. You certainly hope for one of those guys to come to the forefront and show they are going to pitch ahead and keep the ball down. Anytime it happens, whether it’s the first day or the last day of the season, it’s frustrating cause you’re always pulling for your own guys.”

Aren’t the pitchers supposed to be ahead of the hitters this time of the year? The Rangers hitters stroked 21 hits, including five doubles and a pair of three-run homers.

“Shoot, we even had an early pitching camp and some extra bullpens,” Hillman said. “In comparison, we might be ahead of schedule. I think we are as far as conditioning level for these guys. It’s disappointing anytime it happens.”

The Rangers also stole three bases, including Borbon in the first and Ian Kinsler in the third with the Royals' new starter, Jason Kendall, catching. Davies and Tejeda were on the mound at the time.

“He (Kendall) had a couple of stolen bases against him, but we didn’t do a very good job of monitoring the running game,” Hillman said. “I don’t really consider those legitimate stolen bases because of the release times they were stealing off of.”

If Davies and Tejeda don’t pitch better and Farnsworth has a solid March, he could earn the fifth rotation slot by default.