ARLINGTON, Texas — The theme for the Texas Rangers over the first month of the 2024 season might as well have been “Fight Hard.” Few of their victories in April came easy and nothing is being handed to the defending champions.
Even against teams where Texas appeared to have an advantage on paper, they have managed to make things difficult on themselves before finding their way to the win column.
The series against the Kansas City Royals that started a three-city, ten-game road trip would be another one to be classified under the category of nothing is easy. Featuring a similar pattern of pitching from recent weeks, and an offense that had a breakthrough game before going back to sputtering, the Rangers utilized a rare late-innings rally to claim the series from Kansas City.
Game 33: Texas 1, Kansas City 7 (W: Schreiber, 3-0, L: Winn, 0-1)
Game 34: Texas 15, Kansas City 4 (W: Sborz, 1-0, L: Wacha, 1-4)
Game 35: Texas 3, Kansas City 2 (W: Yates, 3-0, L: McArthur, 1-1, Sv: Robertson, 1)
The hits (both good and bad) keep coming
It would be easy to look at the Rangers’ 15-4 win on Saturday and say that it was a good day for them. If nothing else, it was cathartic for the players in the lineup who have been mired in an inconsistent stretch for weeks now.
Indeed, with 17 hits and production top to bottom, the Rangers enjoyed one of their best offensive days so far as they scored the most runs of the young season, albeit without a longball for a fourth consecutive game.
The offense was spread out among the innings, as well – seven runs were scored in the first four innings, while the remaining eight came in innings 7-9. Late scoring has been an issue for the Rangers, going back to last year.
Several Rangers had on-base or hit streaks ended in the 7-1 loss in the opener, but a cadre of Texas hitters racked up sorely needed hits in the offensive onslaught. Noticeably absent from production, though, was Wyatt Langford. The rookie designated hitter took a 3-for-25 slump into the game Saturday, pulled up lame trying to beat out a check-swing grounder in the fourth, and was lifted.
Langford was replaced by Travis Jankowski in the outfield and may be on the shelf for 3-4 weeks, as the MRI revealed a Grade 1 hamstring strain. It’s another in a long list of injuries that has plagued the Rangers this season. Texas already has a full starting rotation’s worth of pitchers on the IL, along with starting third baseman, Josh Jung.
There are a few options for the Rangers to replace Langford’s spot, including bringing up infielder Jonathan Ornelas or C/1B Sam Huff. They could also bring up Dustin Harris as a fifth outfielder option while Travis Jankowski assumes more of a 4th OF/DH situation.
In the finale, it appeared as though the 15 runs from the previous night had been a mirage, but the Rangers found their stroke before it was too late. Down 2-0 going into the eighth, the Rangers manufactured a run to give them hope for a comeback.
In the ninth, Jonah Heim made that comeback possible with a clutch homer – the first for Texas in five games – to tie the game. In the 10th, Nathaniel Lowe scored ghost runner Taveras on a single to right field while the Rangers kept KC from scoring their own freebie to take the series.
Bullpen rebounds
After a series against the Nationals where they didn’t surrender any runs, the Rangers’ bullpen allowed things to get out of hand Friday night. After six strong innings of one-run ball from starter Michael Lorenzen, manager Bruce Bochy turned to rookie Cole Winn in a tied game.
Winn hadn’t given up a run in an appearance since he debuted, a stretch of seven innings through April. On paper, it’s a savvy move, but since the games aren’t played on paper, things didn’t turn out the way Bochy would have liked.
Winn allowed a single to start the frame, the first hit that he had allowed as a big leaguer, before collecting the inning’s first out. Unfortunately, that would be the only out that Winn would record, as he allowed three more singles, prompting Jose Ureña to come in and replace him. Ureña wasn’t effective either as he allowed a single to score the inherited runner from Winn and a three-run Salvador Perez homer to put the game out of reach.
On Saturday, while Jake Latz and Jose Leclerc turned in scoreless outings, Josh Sborz and Jonathan Hernandez gave up two runs in their combined three innings of work. They were harmless runs, as the Rangers were already up by a large margin, but seeing the bullpen give up any runs after such an impressive stretch was enough to take notice for the next close game.
The bullpen came through during that chance in the finale, as Kirby Yates and David Robertson followed an exemplary Jon Gray to handle the final three innings of the 10-inning affair, allowing no hits and just one walk apiece with Yates picking up the victory and Robertson earning his first save as a member of the Rangers.
Playing it safe
Saturday night’s starter Dane Dunning was only at 79 pitches when Bochy pulled him at 4 ⅔ innings pitched. Lorenzen seemed to have more in the tank to go another inning in Friday’s loss, a move that might have helped save some runs for the Rangers. But with Nathan Eovaldi joining Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, and Cody Bradford on the injured list, Bochy has to be extra careful about the usage of his current starting staff.
In a tie game in early May, with Eovaldi there to stretch out the rotation, maybe Lorenzen goes back out for the seventh. In a 7-0 game in the fifth, and Bradford around to push everyone back, Dunning probably gets the chance for the win, plus an inning.
In the finale, Gray was able to give Bochy seven innings of two-run ball, a line that almost made him a hard-luck loser, if not for the offense coming back. With Yates not having pitched in a while, Bochy was able to use him for two innings of work while Robertson closed it out.
The point is, with pitchers around the league dropping like flies these days, and with Texas themselves having an entire rotation’s worth of evidence to that point, Bochy has to manage for the long-term goals of the team, not just the game in front of him, which can lead to decisions that are easy to second guess.
The Rangers now travel to Oakland for one of the final times after visiting there as division rivals in each of the 52 years that the Rangers have been based in Arlington. Texas comes to the Bay Area set to take on a surprisingly resilient and surprisingly hot Athletics team, but they arrive having won three consecutive series themselves.
Do you think the Rangers’ lineup will build upon their 15-run outburst? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
