ARLINGTON, Texas — If the 1-5 East Coast road trip wasn’t a “white flag” moment for the Texas Rangers, this four-game set against the Minnesota Twins certainly felt like one.
On a weekend where former third baseman and current Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre was honored in an on-field ceremony, with a statue on the verge of being erected, the Rangers spent the weekend coming up short, a familiar refrain.
With a chance to rough up a couple of rookie pitchers, the Rangers fell flat as they often have this season. With a rally in the finale, the series equated to the last gasping breaths of a team that started the season with such promise as defending champions and is on its way to a season where Texas will finish below .500 in the league’s most winnable division.
Game 122: Minnesota 3, Texas 2 (W: Alcala, 3-3, L: Yates, 4-2, Sv: Duran, 17)
Game 123: Minnesota 4, Texas 3 (W: Woods Richardson, 4-3, L: Heaney, 4-13, Sv: Duran, 18)
Game 124: Minnesota 5, Texas 2 (W: Henriquez, 1-0, L: Eovaldi, 8-7, Sv: Sands, 4)
Game 125: Minnesota 5, Texas 6 (W: Chafin, 4-2, L: Duran, 6-6)
Bradford states his case
For the second start in a row, Cody Bradford had a solid outing. After missing most of the season due to injury, Bradford’s return was highly anticipated as the Rangers sought to “tread water” in the first half of the season.
Bradford’s first start back left much to be desired, but his last two outings, including this one against the Twins, has been a great sign for Texas. The problem, though, is that the Rangers, as has been well documented this season, unexpectedly needed help for a surprisingly unproductive lineup rather than pitching cavalry.
Bradford for his part, in the opener of the series, scattered six hits across six innings, giving up just two runs. It was a valiant, gutsy effort, as Bradford threw 104 pitches despite the intention of the team being that Bradford would return as a reliever, but the Rangers, who scored two runs in the first inning, managed to collect just six hits over the rest of the game. It was an astonishingly lax showing from last year’s stout offense but one that has become all too familiar.
Heavy hitters in a pitcher’s park
Adolis Garcia, Wyatt Langford, and Josh Jung each drilled balls to deep parts of the outfield that could have been dramatic home runs in Friday night’s one-run loss. Unfortunately, the dimensions of the Rangers’ new ballpark, built to attract pitchers in free agency, backfired on the offense that the Texas front office had taken great care to build.
Regardless, you can’t win by the long ball all the time, and even though the Rangers haven’t been hitting long balls as much this year, they haven’t been able to string together the hits to produce runs, either.
On Friday night, it was a sacrifice fly, a solo home run, and an RBI single that gave the Rangers their three runs. But they had eight hits on the night and couldn’t find another couple of runs to overtake the Twins.
Manager Bruce Bochy said that there were a lot of near misses and balls that almost got out; in a one-run game, and it was a one-run game for the last four innings, “almost” doesn’t count. The Rangers’ offense just hasn’t been able to find a positive foothold all this season.
Overstaying his welcome
When Texas’ top starter Nathan Eovaldi left his start after three innings due to side tightness, the remainder of the season almost started to feel like a footnote. After a couple of extra days of rest, though, Eovaldi was back out there, on arguably the most emotionally meaningful game of the year.
Adrian Beltre had just been honored before the game for his journey to Cooperstown and the good feelings were in the air. The ace delivered for 99% of his outing as he gritted his team and tried to carry another sputtering effort from the lineup over the finish line.
Surrendering just a solo home run, Eovaldi was sharp through seven innings with a decent pitch count. The Rangers, who only found two runs with which to support Eovaldi, appeared to be on their way to a win nonetheless. But Eovaldi put reliable setup man David Robertson in a practical no-win situation by allowing three straight Twins to reach base to lead off the eighth. Before the inning was over, the Twins would score three runs before adding a final tally in the ninth on their way to a third straight win to start the series.
Showing some fight
The finale of the series presented what has become basically the theme of the Rangers’ season. After awful offensive showings in the first two or three games of a series, Texas proceeds to explode for a brief moment. This was the case again in the series finale on Sunday.
After already being guaranteed a loss of the series, the Rangers had one “throwback” inning in the seventh frame of the finale. Backed by homers from Adolis Garcia and Josh Jung and an RBI double by Corey Seager, the Rangers put up what last year was a commonality and this year is a rarity, a five-run inning that turned a 4-0 deficit into a lead.
Texas would eventually go on to win in extra innings. Aside from the five-run outburst, there wasn’t really a moment for the rest of the series where the Rangers showed that they were on the verge of any offensive breakthrough. And that has been the story of the Rangers’ offense – one game of hope and not much else after that.
Texas now welcomes a last-place Pittsburgh Pirates team to Arlington for the final three games of this homestand. The Pirates, despite their spot in the cellar in the National League Central, actually have a better winning percentage than the Rangers. Thus is the fate of the 2024 Texas Rangers.
What positives do you think the Rangers can hope for from the season’s final six weeks? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
