NEW YORK -- The Rangers looked to get off to a hot start Monday night, when the offense opened its matchup against the Yankees with back-to-back singles from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andy Ibáñez.

After a wild pitch moved the runners up, the Nos. 3-4-5 hitters in the Texas lineup responded with three consecutive strikeouts without scoring. That situation proved to be significant as the Rangers fell to New York, 4-3, at Yankee Stadium in the series opener.

“I wouldn’t say it’s deflating, but it’s momentum building for the other side,” Kiner-Falefa said of the first inning. “Not scoring that run and giving them the opportunity to build some momentum ... that's a tough lineup over there. You don't want to give them any momentum. Once they got [out of] that first inning, that's a big win for them. When we can’t score right there, that changes the whole dynamic of the game.”

Manager Chris Woodward agreed, saying that it was more of a missed opportunity than anything, especially since the Rangers did come out aggressive. He even felt like Adolis García had a good at-bat in the inning, before he chased on the last pitch to strike out swinging for the first out.

“Once we got second and third [with no outs], your job is to get that guy in and that guy over,” Woodward said. “Anything over to the right side, we'll do that, because they were playing infield back. It’s just a missed opportunity that you hope it doesn't come back to bite you. Clearly in a 4-3 loss, it came back to bite us, because we could have easily just hit a weak ground ball to second and a fly ball and we end up winning, 5-4.”

Over the last homestand, in which Texas lost five of seven to the Astros and White Sox, the Rangers went a combined 4-for-46 with runners in scoring position. On Monday, the offense went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position in the loss to the Yankees.

Woodward has emphasized that the Rangers need to manufacture runs in the last month of the season, but the club has struggled mightily in that facet of the game.

“That’s situational hitting,” Kiner-Falefa said. “It’s just a bunch of younger guys, and we're still learning what to do in those situations and how to approach the pitcher. I think being a young team, we try to do too much and try to hit a two-run homer instead of doing the job that's at hand.”

Texas was able to get three runs across the plate in the top of the fifth inning, when Charlie Culberson launched a leadoff home run off the left-field foul pole before RBIs from Kiner-Falefa and García cut the Yankees’ lead to just one, but the next seven batters were retired in order.

Kiner-Falefa has been a bright spot for the Rangers this month. After a rough July in which he hit .188, the shortstop has gotten back on track. Monday’s two-hit effort was his fourth straight multihit game, extending his hitting streak to five. Kiner-Falefa is now slashing .349/.423/.365 in September.

Kiner-Falefa said he felt like his slump lasted so long because he tried too hard to force himself out of it when it started initially.

“I'm just trusting everything that I'm doing and the work I'm putting in,” Kiner-Falefa said. “During that rough stretch, I was digging my hole deeper. Right now, I'm just playing my game and having fun. I think I put too much pressure on myself and I didn't realize that we still had up to now to kind of even things out. Hopefully, I can keep building and end this season on a high note.”