ARLINGTON, Texas — True to form, the series in Oakland for the Texas Rangers this week was just plain weird. There was a little of everything – a couple of blowouts, some really adventurous defense, rockets with nothing to show for it, and the obvious sun-aided hits.
Games for the Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum have historically seem to be centered around happenstance, and while each game featured some semblance of good or bad luck, some more bad fortune befell the roster during their stay in the East Bay, despite coming away with a series victory.
Game 36: Texas 4, Oakland 2 (W: Leclerc, 3-2, L: Erceg, 1-2, Sv: Yates, 6)
Game 37: Texas 15, Oakland 8 (W: Ureña, 1-2, L: Stripling, 1-6)
Game 38: Texas 4, Oakland 9 (W: Sears, 3-2, L: Lorenzen, 2-2)
Game 39: Texas 12, Oakland 11 (W: Robertson, 2-0, L: Bido: 0-1, Sv: Yates, 7)
The Late Show
Just a day after Texas scored single runs in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings to take a 3-2 win and win the series against the Royals, Corey Seager decided to take care of all three runs of another comeback in one swing.
Texas was being shut out going into the eighth inning of the opener from Oakland, but with two out and two on, Seager launched a long 422 foot homer to right-center field to turn the game around.
The Rangers were able to tack on an insurance run in the ninth to give themselves some breathing room. Then, closer Kirby Yates, who had thrown two innings in relief the day before to earn the win in the finale at Kansas City, worked around a walk to pick up the save and complete a second consecutive come-from-behind win.
Later in the series, in the second game of the doubleheader, Texas was able to score five runs over the last two frames, certainly key, as the A’s were able to shrink the margin of what had been a blowout to one in the bottom of the ninth. Yates again was able to shut the door.
After a season in which the Rangers rarely rallied late, and often saw leads evaporate in the final frames due to their suspect bullpen, it has been fun to see Texas flex their late-game muscle.
Heaney holding his own
At some point, Andrew Heaney giving the Rangers a chance to win when it’s his turn might become the expectation. There’s some understood wariness when Heaney takes the mound, as he struggled in April and was relegated to long relief duties by the end of last season and the playoffs. However, the lefty whose short-term effectiveness has been well documented, has turned in fourth straight outings of five or more innings and has allowed just nine runs total during that span.
The start to open the series in Oakland felt like a special occasion even, as the lefty threw nearly 100 pitches. Since the second half of last season, Heaney’s appearances had been limited to around 80 pitches or fewer.
On Monday night, Heaney went six innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just one earned run while striking out five. Heaney also didn’t allow a walk. It was the third consecutive start for Heaney without allowing a free pass which is a welcome development.
With the rotation absorbing blows left and right, Heaney’s efficiency and effectiveness couldn’t have been timed better. The next step is for Texas to get Heaney a victory as his no-decision on Monday left him at 0-4 on the year.
Dunning goes down
The Rangers will need to continue getting good outings out of Heaney as they’ve witnessed yet another starter land on the injured list. Before Wednesday’s doubleheader, manager Bruce Bochy announced that righty Dane Dunning will make a 15-day stay on the IL with a rotator cuff strain.
Even though it currently isn’t expected that Dunning will need more time beyond the minimum 15 days, the ailment quite literally puts another strain on a Rangers rotation that was already being tested coming into the season and has only seen more questions added.
The Rangers now have a full starting rotation, including a 6th starter, taking up space on the IL – Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi, Tyler Mahle, Cody Bradford, and now Dunning are all down and out for various reasons.
Dunning’s last outing in Kansas City was cut short at just 4 ⅔ innings – and the one previous to that lasted just 69 pitches despite effective pitching – presumably because Texas was up 7-0 at the time; but it’s possible that the early exits have been as a precaution for the rotator cuff.
Topsy-turvy twin bill
The whole series saw all the classic Coliseum craziness, but between both games of the scheduled doubleheader on Wednesday, baseball got real weird.
First were the circumstances – these games were played as a scheduled doubleheader simply because Oakland wanted an off day for travel on Thursday instead of being scheduled for an extended stretch of games in a row, which MLB granted.
Secondly, the team went and traded for last year’s outfielder Robbie Grossman in an effort to improve the squad’s metrics against left-handed pitching. Grossman, you might remember, was ranked dead last in all of baseball in terms of outfield defense, registering negative Defensive Runs Saved despite Texas being an elite team defensively in 2023.
In the first game of the doubleheader, with Texas having won the first two games of the series, starter Michael Lorenzen, who came into the game with a 4-0 record and an 0.29 ERA against the Athletics, gave up six runs in six innings, including two homers. Cole Winn came on in relief of Lorenzen and promptly gave up three runs in relief after not allowing a run in all of April.
In the second game, Jack Leiter made his second big league start and it went about the same as his debut last month in Detroit as he struggled with control and consistency. Leiter went four innings and gave up four earned runs, but six total as two runs scored because of a Nathaniel Lowe throwing error. Lowe eventually made up for his miscue by ripping a hit that ricocheted off the pitcher to plate two runs in the late innings as the Rangers tried to pull away.
Texas and Oakland entered the bottom of the ninth inning with the Rangers on top 12-7. Prospect Owen White, who was called up ahead of the doubleheader to give Texas a fresh arm out of the bullpen, started the inning, but after three straight singles to begin the frame, Bochy was forced to go to closer Yates, who had not been scored upon yet this season.
That streak would end, as Yates allowed the inherited runners to score before giving up a run of his own before finally stopping the bleeding in what ended up being an exhaustingly bizarre three and a half hour 12-11 victory.
Overall, it was former Athletic Marcus Semien who starred for the Rangers during the grueling day as he went 6-for-10 during the doubleheader with a walk, home run, and four runs scored.
Texas once again came away with a hard fought series win and they are surely grateful to be headed out of Oakland for Colorado for the final leg of their road trip and they do so with a full game lead atop the American League West.
Do you think the Rangers will be able to weather the latest onslaught of pitching injuries? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
