KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Honestly, this felt like it.
By the time the Rangers packed up and limped out of Kansas City – literally in the case of Marcus Semien – it felt like the competitive stage of the season was over. They were beaten and bruised and still mostly unresponsive even in the most crucial of situations. As it has for two seasons now, the road proved their ultimate demise.
Kinda ironic: The Rangers won the World Series by going undefeated on the road and then emblazoned their championship rings with a tribute to that feat. Maybe they can find something nice from the same jeweler for the epitaph on a season, and maybe an era, that seems officially done.
If it is the end, it came with a 6-4 loss to Kansas City to complete a woebegone week-long road trip that began with a collapse in Toronto and ended up in a heap at Kauffman Stadium. By the end of the afternoon, Semien, the toughest man on the roster, hobbled out of the clubhouse in a walking boot after fouling a ball off the top of his left foot. Evan Carter dressed mostly with one hand while nursing a stiff right wrist, the result of being hit by a pitch. The Rangers will send Semien for an MRI on Friday and sent Carter for X-rays Thursday, but did not release results.
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That’s to say nothing of the actual game. It appears the warranty has worn off on starter Patrick Corbin, who seemed like a great late-stage free agency bargain for much of the year, but failed to get through the fifth inning for the fourth straight time. And so, when it was done, the Rangers went 2-5 on the road, fell three games below .500 for the year and are now 3 ½ games back of Kansas City for the final wild card stalking spot. To consider the teams controlling the actual wild cards would require field glasses. And, by the way, the Rangers have lost tiebreakers to three of them (New York, Seattle and now Kansas City).
“Today was one we really wanted to get,” said manager Bruce Bochy, who’d spent a sleepless day away from the club while attending to a family issue. “It was just a tough road trip. But, hey, you’ve got to move on. That’s what you do in this game. It was a tough day, but you keep hearing me say it: ‘We have to keep fighting.’ That’s all we can do.”
Another possibility: They can start thinking about next year and how to fix a myriad problems. The list is long and largely a repeat of things they needed to fix last offseason: Be better on the road, be better against good teams, be competitive against left-handed pitching, murder fastballs.
About the road, the Rangers are now 26-40 this season away from Globe Life Field. Over the last two seasons, they have a .408 winning percentage on the road, better than only Pittsburgh, Colorado and the Chicago White Sox. What’s that they say about the company you keep? The Pirates are headed for their seventh consecutive losing season, Colorado is about to have its third consecutive 100-loss season and the White Sox had the worst 162-game record ever last year.
“You have to look at the record and say there is [a difference between the Rangers at home and on the road],” Bochy said. “We got our hits. We got guys out there. But you’ve got to find a way to win on the road or you are not going to have a good year.”
This year, the biggest problem on the road has been the discrepancy in pitching. The offense is marginally better on the road, averaging 4.3 runs per game and having higher totals in every slash line category. Globe Life Field profiles now as a more pitcher-friendly park and it certainly seems to help aid the best overall starting rotation performance in recent history. But, on the road, there is an adjustment, particularly in how balls fly. It has led to lopsided home run numbers. After allowing two homers Thursday, including the ultimate game-winner to Vinnie Pasquantino in the fifth inning, the Rangers have allowed 83 homers in 66 road games; 55 homers in 63 home games. Fly balls that die in Globe Life Field are killing them on the road.
Corbin, who allowed a homer to Nick Loftin in the second, got into trouble in the fourth after an infield single started things. He walked Loftin and then Kansas City manufactured a run with a bunt and a sac fly. Maikel Garcia’s two-out hit gave the Royals a 4-1 lead and chased Corbin from the game.
“Maybe I’m trying to do too much,” said Corbin, who has allowed 17 runs in 13 ⅓ innings over four starts this month. “It’s been frustrating. I’m trying too much for strikeouts, maybe, not just attacking and trusting myself.”
Even the rare Rangers rally couldn’t save them. The Rangers scored three in the fifth to tie it and had a chance for more, but rookie Cody Freeman bounced into an inning-ending double play. Four pitches into the bottom of the inning, Pasquantino homered off Jacob Webb. It was the 16th homer by an opponent over the course of the trip; the Rangers hit just nine.
And, so, they packed up their wounded and headed home.
There are games remaining, but it certainly seems like the idea of contending has finally come to an end.
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