TORONTO — There is informative duality in the use of position player pitchers.
The Toronto Blue Jays tossed catcher Tyler Heineman onto the mound to finish off a blowout win in front of a sold-out crowd that had just crooned along to a cover of Bruce Channell’s ‘Hey! Baby!” as part of an eighth-inning singalong.
The Texas Rangers, out of viable options and even more out of reach of a win, let first baseman Rowdy Tellez pitch the seventh and eighth innings of a game that had escaped them long ago.
It simply became an exercise of survival to try again the next day.
Rangers
It’s become an all-too-popular one.
The stock of next day’s has begun to grow slim, too.
The Rangers lost 14-2 to the first-place Blue Jays Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre to clinch a third-straight series loss. Left-handed starter Patrick Corbin and right-handed long reliever Jon Gray combined to allow 11 runs in fewer than five innings pitched. The offense, which scored only once against a legitimate pitcher, totaled two or fewer runs for the seventh time in its last 10 games.
The Rangers have lost four consecutive games, eight of their last nine and are 4-11 since the July 31 trade deadline at which they added three pitchers. Only the New York Mets, who’ve won just twice since then, have had a worse record in that span leaguewide. They’re now eight games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West and five games back of the final wild card spot.
“I don’t know if there’s any way to fully comprehend it,” first baseman Jake Burger said. “We believe in this roster, this clubhouse, you know? It’s tough to come in here in a big series, lose a heartbreaker last night and lose big [Saturday]. It’s kind of tough to put into words.”
Corbin, with a lack of command, allowed six runs in the second inning to a fiery Blue Jays offense that erased a late-game deficit to win Friday’s opener. He was tagged for another in the third when Gray, who entered with one out and a runner on first, allowed a two-run home run to eight-hole hitter Myles Straw. Straw — who also homered off of Corbin in the second inning — had hit just eight home runs in his first 664 career games.
The Rangers, flummoxed once again by a soft-throwing left-handed starter, plated just one run off of Eric Lauer in the top of the third when left fielder Sam Haggerty walked, stole second and scored on a Burger single. They had four more hits the rest of the game but went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position in the game’s last six innings.
Shortstop Corey Seager — who went 0 for 3 and has slashed a woeful .193/.292/.316 in his last 15 games — was lifted in the sixth inning after the deficit reached double digits. His double play partner Marcus Semien was sidelined with a swollen wrist after a Friday night hit by pitch. It forced the Rangers to keep emergency pitcher Ezequiel Duran at second base and allowed Tellez, a former Blue Jay, to give up three more runs in the seventh inning.
“Like all the games,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said, “win or lose, we’ve got to come out here [Sunday] and find a way to win the ballgame.”
They need to find a way quickly. The Rangers have 38 regular season games left to play and the sixth-toughest strength of schedule ahead of them in baseball. They’ll need to buck season-long trends to make anything of it.
Saturday’s loss was an anomaly for a pitching staff whose 3.44 ERA still leads all teams. The lack of offense was not. The Rangers have now scored two or fewer runs in 48 of their 124 games this season. Only the Kansas City Royals, who the Rangers play a four-game series against next week, have done so more often among American League teams.
Texas added three pitchers at the deadline to strengthen a strength and, ideally, take even less pressure off of an offense that hadn’t shown any level of consistency to that point. It was a reminder, too, that an external bat could not be a fix-all for an offense with lineup-wide deficiencies.
That’s only been validated since. The Rangers had a .680 OPS before the deadline that ranked fifth-worst in the league. They have a .636 OPS since that ranks third-worst since and have lost eight games by two runs or fewer since July 31 because of that.
No qualified hitter on the roster has been even league average since the deadline. Outfielder Wyatt Langford’s .658 OPS — which is more than 60 points below league average — is the best on the team and still ranks just 124th among 184 qualified hitters. Seager (.640), outfielder Adolis García (.556), utility man Josh Smith (.521) and Semien (.486) have only been worse.
“We’re kind of getting in our own way,” designated hitter Joc Pederson said. “It’s definitely deflating. It’s hard to get something going. I think all the negative words you can say about losing, you can just combine those, that’s probably the feeling that everyone is feeling.”
The others? “Pissed off,” which Bochy used to describe the vibe after Friday’s loss. “Frustrating,” according to Corbin. “Urgency,” which Burger said the Rangers need to play with at this stage.
Burger’s word choice may be the most apt. It’s now a matter of whether the Rangers have enough of it to accomplish what’s necessary. Pederson, a two-time World Series champion, was asked if the club has felt the appropriate amount of urgency.
He took a pause before he answered.
“I would say that I hope we start winning,” Pederson said. “Next question.”
Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn
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