ST. LOUIS — The Rangers’ entertaining week of small-ball success came to an end Wednesday.
And now comes the question: Was it all just a fun little hookup?
Or is this more of a long-term relationship?
Neither Seager nor Langford, who are likely to squeeze right into the Nos. 3-4 spots in the lineup and push some other guys down, are going to bunt, hit-and-run or spend a lot of time stealing bases. So, what happens to the offense now? Do the Rangers’ ghost their late spring fling and return to swinging big?
“I think this should be part of our identity,” Schumaker said after the loss. “This should be part of how we win games. And I’m okay with Wyatt Langford hitting a home run, as well, but he can also run the bases really well. And there are still guys here where we can utilize small ball to turn over the lineup and get it back up to Joc [Pederson], [Josh Jung], Seager and those guys. That’s the biggest key for us. We did it to some extent tonight with the bottom of the lineup and gave ourselves a chance. That’s got to be a part of who we are and who we are going to try to be the rest of the year.”
Even in the loss Wednesday, the Rangers showed the value of being able to use other methods to give their best bats a shot. The Rangers dug themselves a big hole when MacKenzie Gore had another one of those nights where he walks a bunch of guys in an inning and creates an uphill battle. He walked three in the first inning, the eighth time this year he’s had multiple walks in an inning. Of the 30 walks he’s allowed over 13 starts, 60% of them have come in those eight innings.
It cost him valuable pitches early and made it a struggle to get through five innings. When he allowed a two-out, two-strike, run-scoring triple to former Ranger prospect Thomas Saggese in the fifth, it dug the Rangers a 4-1 deficit, forced Gore out of the game and the weaker middle of the bullpen into the equation. Luis Curvelo, in his first outing since being recalled, allowed another two-out run in the sixth to make it 5-1.
But the bottom of the order went to work piling on baserunners to give the top a chance to make it a game. After a double and a walk by Justin Foscue and Kyle Higashioka, hitting seventh and eighth respectively, Pederson, the leadoff man, tripled up the alley in right center to draw the Rangers within 5-3. In the ninth, Higashioka walked and moved to second when Michael Helman tried to bunt for a hit and stay out of a double-play. Pederson drove the ball to the base of the wall in left center, but it was tracked down. And Josh Jung flied out to end the game.
“There wasn’t a ton of room to do hit-and-runs and get-them-over-get-them-in or bunt when you are down like that,” Schumaker said. “But we got guys on base and had the chance to tie it up late. That’s all you can ask for.”
Well, you could ask for a home run, too.
It’s now been four consecutive games the Rangers have gone without one. But, thanks to a more innovative — or basic — approach on offense, the Rangers won the first three.
The hope is that when they add more guys with the ability to homer back in, the infusion of small ball will make the offensive exponentially explosive.