ARLINGTON, Texas — While injury problems are quickly becoming a bigger part of the Rangers’ season thus far, the injuries that occurred over the course of the weekend series from Houston did not help Texas’ lack of lineup production and pitching deficiencies.
There were some familiar and welcome sights as Texas returned to the scene of their American League Championship Series win, but the impact of a second straight series loss was only softened by the fact that the team immediately behind them in the American League West standings got swept in Boston, which has allowed the Rangers to hold onto a their tenuous lead in the division.
Game 14: Rangers 12, Astros 8 (W: Dunning, 2-1, L: France, 0-2)
Game 15: Rangers 2, Astros 9 (W: Abreu, 1-1, L: Urena, 0-1)
Game 16: Rangers 5, Astros 8 (W: Javier, 2-0, L: Eovaldi, 1-1)
The infirmed
The Rangers started the season with three of its key starting pitchers – Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle – all recovering from major surgeries and awaiting returns near the second half of the season. On the position player side, Nathaniel Lowe started the season on the IL with an oblique strain, Josh Jung suffered a fractured wrist from a hit-by-pitch in the season’s second series and his replacement Justin Foscue recently suffered an oblique strain that landed him on the 60 day IL as well.
Over the weekend, Texas had to add two more pitchers to this list. Brock Burke, who was mostly responsible for the series opener being closer than it needed to be, broke his non-pitching hand after punching a wall out of frustration.
Sunday afternoon, the Rangers announced that lefty Cody Bradford would head to the 15-day IL with a back strain. Bradford had been a pleasant surprise early for the rotation, despite originally being viewed as a stop-gap until Michael Lorenzen joined the team. Bradford pitched to a 3-0 record with a sparkling 1.40 ERA in his first three starts of the season.
Lorenzen is set to debut for the club on Monday, which makes for a happy coincidence, but the consistency that Bradford was providing the Rangers’ rotation was a welcome sight that they won’t have for at least the next couple of weeks.
Heaney hanging on
The start that Andrew Heaney turned in on Saturday was positive in some aspects and flat in others. The lefty, who came back to Texas on a player option, allowed only two runs to a stacked Houston lineup. The unfortunate downside of this was that he only went 3 ⅔ innings for the second start in a row.
The last time Heaney made it into the sixth inning of a start was August 29th of 2023. One of the running stories surrounding him in the second half of the season was that his efficiency dropped sharply around the 80-pitch mark. That appeared to hold true again in his start against Houston, as he hit 79 pitches and was pulled after surrendering the tying runs in an eventual loss.
The Rangers will have a decision to make when determining how much longer they can afford to have Heaney in the rotation, but Bradford’s injury perhaps buys the left-hander more time.
Adolis’ Astros
Adolis Garcia continues to have impressive numbers against Houston, remaining the Rangers’ biggest offensive weapon against their in-state rivals. Garcia went 5-for-10 in the three-game set at Minute Maid Park, with three walks, two RBI, two stolen bases, and three runs scored.
Lifetime now, in 54 games against the Astros, Garcia is .292 with 13 homers and 44 RBI. Even in losing efforts, watching El Bombi hit against the Astros is appointment viewing.
Nate not at his best
The Rangers had to like their chances to earn a series win with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound in the rubber match finale. After all, he was nails for Texas in the ALCS against Houston, with two wins at Minute Maid Park. But Texas learned the hard way that even an ace can’t be at the top of his game every outing.
On Sunday, Eovaldi was uncharacteristically hittable. Although the Alvin, Texas native soaked up a needed six innings on just 87 pitches, he also gave up five runs, including two home runs
to Jose Altuve. Even the outs were loud for Texas’ best starter before the Astros piled runs on the Texas bullpen to prevent the Rangers from having hope of getting Eovaldi off the hook.
Bullpen blowback
The series opener on Friday should not have been as close as the final box score would indicate. With the lineup tagging Houston starter J.P. France for eight earned runs in four innings of work, and with Dane Dunning allowing just three in five innings, Texas should have cruised the rest of the evening. As the Rangers learned last season, cruising is rarely the case with their bullpen.
Even though Jose Leclerc was able to pitch a scoreless inning with one hit and a walk in a frame that was intended to get him right after struggles as the team’s closer, Bruce Bochy still had to go to his high-leverage relievers with David Robertson and Kirby Yates tasked with finishing out a game that should have been a blowout.
Brock Burke and Grant Anderson combined to allow five runs on five hits as they turned a 12-3 laugher into a closer 12-8 affair in the seventh inning. Burke, who hadn’t given up a run in his first three outings before giving up one to the Astros in Arlington and the four in Houston, now hits the injured list for an extended stay after breaking his hand on his non-throwing arm.
On Saturday, it was Jose Urena and Burke’s roster replacement Austin Pruitt who gave up seven runs in the game’s final three innings to give Houston the win after Texas took an early 2-0 lead. In the finale, Yerry Rodriguez allowed three runs, recording only one out, and those runs would end up being the difference in the game after Marcus Semien hit a three-run home run to pull Texas to within three runs in the ninth. After the game, the Rangers optioned Rodriguez to make room for Lorenzen.
As Texas continues to shuffle their roster around with injuries starting to mount, finding the right combination of relievers to limit damage remains their biggest challenge.
With Houston in the rearview mirror, the Rangers find themselves limping to Detroit, as they try to get back on track against a Tigers team that sits at 9-6 and challenging the top of the AL Central. The Rangers will have to be satisfied with the fact that no team in the AL West has gotten off to a quick start as they have the worst record among all the division leaders in the Major Leagues.
Do you think the Rangers will weather their injury woes? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
