ARLINGTON, Texas — The All-Star break has arrived and not a moment too soon for the Texas Rangers. It’s a time for the team to recharge, reset, and refocus after they’ve endured a grueling stretch that included 17 consecutive days with a game and 30 in their last 31 days. This concluded with a disappointing series loss to the last place Washington Nationals.
After losing four of their last five series and seeing each area of their game break down over the last month, Texas now finds itself only two games ahead of the Houston Astros in the American League West after spending all but one day in first place in the first half with a lead that reached as high as six games back on June 28.
- Game 89: Texas 7, Washington 2 (W: Bradford, 1-1, L: Williams, 5-5)
- Game 90: Texas 3, Washington 8 (W: Irvin, 2-5, L: Heaney 5-6)
- Game 91: Texas 2, Washington 7 (W: Corbin, 6-10, L: Dunning, 8-2)
Slumping Semien
The Rangers’ regression in run production has been in effect since well before this month started. The fact that Texas’ leadoff hitter (and $175 million man) Marcus Semien has been in a pronounced slump for most of July can’t be overlooked, especially since the Rangers have only won three games in the last nine and are needing production from top to bottom like they had in April and May. It wasn’t too long ago that Semien was the owner of a 25-game hitting streak, was an early MVP candidate, and Texas was on fire.
That streak ended on June 7th. The Rangers lost that game to the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 in what proved to be an ominous defeat. Since then, the team is 12-19, hitting .264 overall and have left an average of eight runners on base per game. For reference, in the 60 games prior to that fateful St. Louis game, the Rangers were hitting .279, had left about 6.5 runners on base per game and were 40-20.
Semien, before that game, was slashing .304/.372/.504. Since then? He’s slashing .208/.268/.308. That 1-0 loss, in which Jon Gray also suffered a complete game loss, is undoubtedly the turning point for the Rangers’ first half and one they’re still trying to recover from.
In the series against Washington, Semien went 2-for-11 with three walks. If you ask manager Bruce Bochy, and even the All-Star starting second baseman himself, it’s probably a sure bet that they would say that Semien is the kind of professional hitter that needs to be up at the plate to try to swing his way through this slump. But perhaps only being allowed to take 1-2 competitive at-bats over the All-Star break might give him a chance to reset.
Sliding Sborz
Reliever Josh Sborz had, up until this month, been one of Texas’ star relievers. Particularly during the month of June, Sborz put up an 0.55 ERA and opponents hit .095 off of him as he struck out 22 over 16.1 innings pitched. His performance was a big reason for why the bullpen turned into a stronger force in the month of June, when starting pitching and offense were starting to trend downwards.
While his lone appearance in the Nationals’ series, in which he allowed two inherited runners to score and then allowed three of his own to cross the plate, wasn’t the reason that the Rangers’ lost the game, it certainly did no favors in keeping his team within reach. Sborz allowed both of starter Dane Dunning’s runners in the bottom of the 6th to score before ending the inning, and then the righty came back out to try to pitch through the 7th, but allowed back-to-back homers to a white-hot Joey Meneses and Stone Garrett.
Going back to his last appearance of June, the only appearance all month where he recorded an earned run, Sborz has allowed seven total runs in just 5 1/3 innings pitched which has rendered him unreliable after earning high leverage innings in Bochy’s bullpen.
Struggling starters
Right now, rookie Cody Bradford could slot in behind Nathan Eovaldi and Dane Dunning as the Rangers’ third best starter in the past month. He’s only started three games in that time frame.
Bradford registered his first big league win in the series opener on Friday. He lasted just long enough to earn the decision, completing five innings and allowing just one earned run on five hits. In his previous two starts, the spot starter went 4 ⅓ innings in each of those, giving up three runs in the start against Detroit and just one run against the Los Angeles Angels.
Dunning’s performance in the series finale, where he gave up four earned runs, wasn’t representative of his overall season. He’s been outstanding since taking over for Jacob deGrom in the rotation. Even in the short few games after coming off of the paternity list where he struggled, the Rangers were usually still in the games he started.
Andrew Heaney, however, hasn’t had much success in preventing runs from crossing the plate or giving the team depth. Heaney hasn’t been able to complete six innings in over a month, and his outing on Saturday was the third time in that time span that he could not complete four innings. The lefty struggled against Washington, his first start since returning from the paternity list himself, getting hit hard and giving up seven earned runs, including three homers. He only threw 72 pitches before a rain delay added to the multitude of reasons to pull him from the game.
Of all the Rangers’ starters, Heaney has been the most consistent with poor starts. This comes after a month of April, where, following his first outing with Texas, Heaney posted a 2.05 ERA over four starts. That debut month provided much hope that the 32-year old had been a diamond in the rough in the offseason. Once the calendar turned to June, though, it’s mostly just been rough for Heaney as he’s made 12 starts while posting a 4.84 ERA.
Rising rookie
Not all was doom and gloom for the Rangers over the weekend, despite dropping the series to Washington. Just days before taking the field as the starting third baseman for the American League All-Stars, Rangers’ rookie Josh Jung showed why he should be at the top of the list for consideration for the Rookie of the Year award as well.
On top of showing outstanding plate discipline through the whole season, Jung had an incredible series against the Nationals, going 5-for-10 with two homers and five RBI. He also flashed a lot of highlight worthy defensive work, something the team has grown accustomed to seeing even though his defense wasn’t necessarily regarded as his strong suit coming into the year.
An MLB season is usually a rollercoaster; and in that case, the Rangers are at a pretty low point right now – the hope now is that the rest allows them to get back on the rise after the break.
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