ARLINGTON, Texas — How much longer can the Texas Rangers keep this pace up? With 13 series to go in the 2024 regular season, the Rangers, seemingly, have been consistently losing two or three games in pathetic or heartbreaking fashion for each game that they win in World Series champion fashion.
The series in Boston was no different, and it appeared until two outs in the ninth in Wednesday’s finale that this would be the “White Flag” series, after which there would be a general consensus among the Rangers’ community that the title defense had finally seen its end with only the sting left to play out; then Wyatt Langford hit a two-out, three-run home run to tie the game and the Rangers closed out the series strong with an extra-innings win.
But the thrilling win only served to remind the baseball world of what the Texas Rangers could have been had they not run into so many obstacles or underperformed – a lot of potential, unfulfilled.
Game 119: Texas 4, Boston 5 (W: Winckowski, 3-1, L: Garabito, 0-1)
Game 120: Texas 4, Boston 9 (W: Crawford, 8-9, L: Urena, 3-8, Sv: Jansen, 22)
Game 121: Texas 9, Boston 7 (W: Festa, 1-1, L: Kelly, 4-2, Sv: Yates, 21)
Extras, extras
Two games in this series went to extra innings. In the opener, Texas battled back from a 3-1 hole to tie the game in the top of the seventh. A Josh Smith RBI-groundout allowed the Rangers to take the lead in the 10th, but a resounding Emmanuel Valdez automatic double drove in the ghost runner for Boston to tie it up again. That set the stage for a Boston walk-off victory that night.
The Rangers’ bullpen, having had an exhausting weekend with a doubleheader in New York, had to turn to relatively unknown Gerson Garabito and recently acquired Walter Pennington on the mound in extras, and Pennington was on the mound for the walk-off after Garabito could only retire one batter.
In the finale, the Rangers once again battled from a deficit, this time, a late 7-4 margin. But after scoring just one run through the first five innings, Texas scored five runs – including a two-run home run by Jonah Heim in the tenth inning – over the last two innings to avoid the sweep in Boston.
A Tale of Two Chafins
Andrew Chafin was acquired at the trade deadline to supplement the backend of the bullpen trio of Jose Leclerc, David Robertson, and Kirby Yates. But since coming over, Chafin hasn’t quite had the same success that attracted Texas to him in the first place.
Going into the finale of the Red Sox series, Chafin had given up five runs in six games totaling only 3 ⅔ innings pitched after allowing just 13 runs total for Detroit in 41 appearances this year. The worst of the outings came in the opener of the Red Sox series.
Chafin came on in relief of Tyler Mahle and promptly walked the first four batters he saw. It resulted in just one run, but it was evident that Chafin wasn’t going to be able to stay in control.
In the finale, however, in relief of Dane Dunning, Chafin looked like a completely different pitcher, throwing two innings in relief and walking none, helping to bridge the gap from spot starter Dunning to David Robertson.
Reverted
Marcus Semien hasn’t had the kind of MVP-caliber season that he put forth last season and he hasn’t been nearly the model of consistency from the leadoff spot. For 12 games, manager Bruce Bochy tried dropping Semien in the order in an effort to jumpstart a season-long slumping offense.
Not only was the swap designed to take some of the pressure off Semien, but also to give more at-bats to Josh Smith, who has been hot for the Rangers most of the year. From the No. 3 spot in the lineup, Semien didn’t fare much better, slashing .200/.294/.378 and Smith slumped atop the lineup.
In another effort to switch things up, Bochy moved Semien back to the leadoff spot for this series, and while he only went 3-for-15 with two RBI and two runs scored, the Rangers scored 17 runs over the three games, an average of 5.7 runs per game, an improvement of their season average of 4.3 runs per game.
Welcome back, Adolis
The summer has been long for Texas, but perhaps no Ranger has felt the dog days more than Adolis Garcia. After being named Rangers Player of the Month for the first month of the season, Garcia, like the Rangers as a whole, has tanked. Garcia was a below-.200 hitter for May, June and July, and something of an offensive black hole.
August has seen the tide turn a bit, with the 2023 ALCS MVP slashing .341/.426/.537. In the finale against Boston, Garcia enjoyed a three-hit, two-homer performance that reminded of his best days from last season. It might be too little, too late, as with the Rangers’ team as a whole, but seeing Garcia back to normal could make the stretch run a little more interesting.
Will the exciting finale win over Boston end up being the highlight of the season for the Rangers? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
