ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s been a frustrating season for the Texas Rangers so far, but “frustrating” probably doesn’t even begin to describe the most recent three series.
First, it was being swept by the worst team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies. Then, after losing two of three to the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians, they welcomed the last place team from their own division – Ron Washington’s Los Angeles Angels – into their house only to sleepwalk through the weekend and lose another series.
An Angels team without Mike Trout, without Shohei Ohtani, without much of a shred of hope to be in contention by the time the All-Star Break rolls around, looked like a great chance to get some momentum back on their side.
But the Rangers couldn’t capitalize, and while the rest of the Metroplex celebrated very big sports wins, the reigning World Series champs had to tuck their tails between their legs and finish the weekend at .500 again with the soft spot of their schedule now in the rearview mirror with nothing to show for it.
Game 46: Los Angeles 9, Texas 3 (W: T. Anderson, 4-4, L: Heaney, 0-5)
Game 47: Los Angeles 2, Texas 3 (W: Rodriguez, 1-0, L: Fulmer, 0-2)
Game 48: Los Angeles 4, Texas 1 (W: Soriano, 2-4, L: Lorenzen, 2-3, Sv: Garcia, 2)
Lifeless bats
It doesn’t matter how quality the start is, or how dominant the outing is by the starting pitcher, if the bats don’t score runs, it’s incredibly difficult to earn a win. Over the three game set against the Angels, a team with the American League’s worst ERA, the Rangers scored a grand total of seven runs.
For a team that was near the top of baseball in runs scored and batting average both last year and this year, that’s quite the underachievement. They also racked up 18 hits in this series, but there are problems with that when you dig deeper.
Saturday’s ballgame was a 13-inning marathon. The Rangers only managed six hits in that game. They left 12 runners on base and went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. In Sunday’s finale, Texas scattered seven hits, with all the major name players getting a piece of that pie – but they scored just one run, on a solo home run from Corey Seager.
After the Cleveland series, the thought was that the Rangers might have gotten their power stroke back, a potential good omen, as the team had only been scoring via stringing together singles. Texas managed four homers over the three games, but only one had a runner on at the time.
Even the one victory that the Rangers managed to pull out of this series didn’t even end with a clutch hit as Nathaniel Lowe got hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 13th with the bases loaded.
Heaney’s hiccup
The opening game of this series saw Andrew Heaney take the hill for Texas. Heaney had produced one of his best stretches with the Rangers over his last four starts, but had trouble putting hitters away against Los Angeles. As such, his pitch count was high early in the game and he was lifted after just 3 ⅔ innings.
The box score will show that Heaney gave up three runs, two earned; the earned runs came on a Zach Neto home run. The unearned run came via a throwing error from Gold Glove first baseman Lowe.
With some messy defense and some inefficient pitching, Heaney’s outing broke a streak of good starts, where he had put up a 2.00 ERA over the last three starts and became the first pitcher in franchise history to record four consecutive starts of 5+ innings without issuing a walk.
The bullpen giveth and taketh away
While Heaney didn’t give the Rangers a lot of length, the bullpen pieces that went out in Friday’s opener made the game far more lopsided. Again, the Rangers’ bats didn’t help the ugliness of the final score, but a trio of Grant Anderson, Cole Winn and the newly selected Shaun Anderson, continued to give up runs after Heaney left.
The bullpen eventually gave up a total of six runs, all earned. Grant Anderson, who put out a fire when he came in to relieve Heaney, eventually allowed three runs in his one inning of work. When Cole Winn came in, he allowed two of Anderson’s inherited runners to score and gave up a homer in the next inning. Shaun Anderson, who was brought up when the team procedurally placed Max Scherzer on the 60-day IL, was able to absorb three innings of work as the game became a lost cause, but also let the Angels pile on their final two runs.
In the finale, it was Jonathan Hernandez who entered with Texas holding a 1-0 lead with two runners on bases and promptly blew the lead by allowing the inherited runners to score and two more as starter Michael Lorezen’s stellar outing was wasted.
Conversely, in the 13-inning game on Saturday, the bullpen was instrumental in putting the Rangers in a position to win the game. After Jose Urena went six strong innings in his latest spot start, giving up just one run, reliever Jose Leclerc allowed one run in his one inning of work as the Angels tied the game but then Hernandez, Kirby Yates, David Robertson and Yerry Rodriguez kept Los Angeles off the scoreboard, setting up the game-winning hit-by-pitch.
Robertson and Rodriguez in particular deserve praise for two innings apiece without a run allowed despite a freebie runner on second base to start each extra inning frame.
All in all, it was a disappointing weekend and a disappointing homestand for the Rangers. Texas will now get to stew on this for another day until they begin another road trip on Tuesday, first to take on one of the best teams in baseball right now, the Philadelphia Phillies.
Do you think the Rangers will be able to put this poor homestand behind them? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
