ARLINGTON, Texas — The All-Star break cannot come soon enough for the Texas Rangers. After a resounding flop of a road trip, Bruce Bochy’s crew is now a season-worst eight games below .500, one year after not dipping below that mark all season.
Though they did save their best for the last day of June, with rookie Wyatt Langford hitting for the first ever cycle on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball in a blowout victory, the series against the Baltimore Orioles showed Texas getting hurt by the long ball, hurt by not hitting the long ball, hurt literally by pitches and, perhaps even worse, they were hurt by what had been their strongest asset to date – the starting pitching.
- Game 81: Texas 2, Baltimore 11 (W: Burnes, 9-3, L: Gray, 3-4)
- Game 82: Texas 1, Baltimore 2 (W: Suarez, 4-2, L: Scherzer, 1-1, Sv: Kimbrel, 18)
- Game 83: Texas 5, Baltimore 6 (W: Povich, 1-2, L: Lorenzen, 4-4, Sv: Kimbrel, 19)
- Game 84: Texas 11, Baltimore 2 (W: Heaney, 3-9, L: Irvin, 6-5)
Cracks in the facade
Coming into the season, the worry was that the rotation wouldn’t be able to give the Rangers enough chances to win in the season’s first half. With three of their best starters on the injured list, Texas patchworked their rotation through this season’s first few months, and to everyone’s surprise, the starters became one of the 2024 team’s best features.
Throughout this four-game set with the Orioles, however, the starters stumbled. Specifically, Jon Gray and Michael Lorenzen had rough nights at the office, with Gray giving up eight earned runs on nine hits, including two home runs in the opener. Lorenzen, for his part, wasn’t having that bad of a night until Heston Kjerstad violently turned around an inside cutter for the third grand slam that the Rangers allowed on this road trip.
Max Scherzer, who took the hill for the second time this season, had the misfortune of allowing two runs in 5 ⅓ innings in a game in which Texas would only score one run while Andrew Heaney enjoyed the best start of the road trip with a season-high ten strikeouts over seven innings in Sunday’s finale
Looking for a jolt
In somewhat of a surprising move, the Rangers optioned Ezequiel Duran to Triple-A Round Rock while recalling outfielder Derek Hill before the finale in Milwaukee. Duran, who had been a huge part of the success of the 2023 team, especially when Corey Seager was on the injured list, lost his place as the primary bench option this season to Josh Smith.
To date, Duran was slashing .256/.294/.324 with just two homers and 12 RBI. That’s a sharp drop both from where he ended last season and where he was at this point in the season last year. These are the moves that a team with a scuffling offense makes though. Hill, who had a short stint with the team earlier this season, joins as something of a center-field platoon outfielder, a right-handed option to mirror Travis Jankowski off the bench.
In 42 games at Triple-A Round Rock, Hill was sporting a .350/.415/.631 slash line, and for a team needing something to push the train forward, Texas enlisted Hill for the job. Since being recalled, the 28-year-old has collected a hit in all four games to provide a spark. He had a breakthrough game in the finale on Sunday Night Baseball, doing his part to help the Rangers to their only win of the road trip. Hill finished the game 2-for-4 with a walk, two home runs, and three RBIs.
Wrist-y business
Shortly after news came that the rehab of Josh Jung’s broken wrist would be pushed back, Corey Seager was writhing in pain after being hit by a pitch to his left wrist on Saturday. The initial fear for Seager was far worse than the X-ray indicated. The 2023 World Series MVP and $325 million man hit the ground after being hit by the pitch and then got up and immediately started walking to the dugout as the 2024 season appeared to be circling the drain.
Seager, who has had brilliant moments this season, is in the same struggling boat as the rest of the Rangers’ offense at the moment. On the year, Seager has a .260/.345/.451 line; still, his absence would create a hole that the struggling offense can’t exactly fill at this moment. Luckily for Texas, Seager’s wrist is not broken but his status is still up in the air after missing Sunday’s finale.
Jung, who has been sidelined with a fractured wrist since April 1, appeared to be nearing a return to the lineup during the road trip. However, with a setback, reported as continued soreness, Jung may not return to the lineup until after the All-Star Break. In an extremely small sample of just four games, Jung was the highest performer of the Rangers’ infield, with a slash of .412/.474/.941, two homers and six RBI.
Jung was replaced in the lineup by Josh Smith, who has carved out a regular playing time role in Jung’s absence. Smith has a .288/.382/.452 slash since taking over full-time responsibilities at third Base, prompting some to wonder whether he should have made it through to the first round of All-Star voting.
Getaway lineup gets it done
With a lineup that was absent much of their normal lineup, the Rangers showed on a national stage that they can still put together an offensive onslaught. Seager was out with the impacted wrist, Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras were resting, and with Wyatt Langford in the field, Robbie Grossman was in the lineup against the lefty starter as a designated hitter.
This lineup still managed 13 hits and 11 runs, including the historic cycle by Langford and two home runs by Hill. This isn’t going to be the everyday configuration going forward, but knowing that there are options on the bench who can step up and contribute should give manager Bochy more buttons to press and levers to pull as he attempts to figure out the right formula to get the lineup going.
Even with Langford starting to show more of what made him a hyped prospect, Texas is in bad shape right now. With a 1-6 road trip behind them, they head back home for an Independence Day series against the San Diego Padres. Texas hosts the All-Star game in two weeks, but the Rangers would probably rather skip the festivities and rest up after a difficult first half.
Do you think Wyatt Langford will stay hot in the season’s second half? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.