PHOENIX – Back to life. Back to reality.
The road trip that started with a bang for the Rangers ended with a thud Wednesday, a hard reminder that energy and attitude are important, but they are merely temporary oases without execution. After winning the first four games of a two-city trip, the Rangers dropped consecutive games to Arizona in which the visions of a peppy, plucky little squad came sharper into focus and, with it, the harsh realization that right now the lineup is made up mostly of unproven players.
Regardless of personnel, the storyline was all too familiar: A misfiring offense. It added up to a 2-0 loss to Arizona. Combined with Tuesday’s 5-3 loss, it’s the first time they’ve lost consecutive games since Aug. 18-19. In the two losses, the Rangers went 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position. It was the 13th time they’ve been shutout this season, making it the sixth most shutouts in a season for the club since the DH was introduced in 1973; there are still 21 games to play.
It could not diminish the fact, though, that this was a good road trip. It was, after all, their first winning road trip since late May when they won four of six against a pair of last-place teams in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. It did, however, raise this question: At this point, is good, good enough?
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“Good is good enough,” said Joc Pederson, whose 11 years of major league service time might have equaled the total of the other eight players in the lineup Wednesday. “I think we’ve made up a lot of ground. We have big series coming up. But we’re in a beautiful spot compared to where we were or where we thought we might have been a couple of weeks ago.”
Said manager Bruce Bochy: “It’s a good road trip, but if you win the first four, you want to get greedy and have a great road trip. We’re just missing with runners in scoring position. You take that trip, but we aren’t satisfied with it.”
When they got back on a plane for Texas, they were two games back of Seattle for the last AL wild card spot and five back of Houston in the West, pending results of Wednesday’s games. But, in effect, they are still further back, highlighting just how drastic the climb ahead of them is. Seattle holds the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams. And one of the two teams ahead of them is guaranteed at least two more wins because Seattle and Houston face off in a three-game series in two weeks.
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While the Rangers don’t have any more games against Seattle, they do have six against Houston, including three this weekend in Arlington. It presents the club with an opportunity to make up significant ground quickly. They also play three at Houston, Sept. 15-17. In addition, the Rangers remaining 21 games represent the fourth-most difficult schedule, according to Tankathon.
Wednesday’s loss also highlighted how difficult the Rangers task is. They literally have no room for error.
And every mistake at the moment costs them. Jack Leiter continued the strong finish to his rookie seasons, but wasn’t quite as aggressive as he would have liked in the first two innings. It led to a pair of runs. Certainly not the kind of performance that loses a game, though Leiter tried his best to take accountability, saying he wished he had given the team a better chance to win. Counter: The Rangers have lost three times this year when allowing three or fewer hits, tied for the most in a season in club history. Sometimes, it ain’t about the pitching.
Even the club’s first error in 20 games, the longest errorless stretch in club history, hurt them. Jake Burger, in his first start at first since returning from the IL, bobbled and kicked a grounder in the second, allowing a runner that sprang to life as a walk to score.
But the Rangers also put the leadoff man on base four times and failed to score. They made a key out on the bases when Alejandro Osuna, who had a very nice series, read a ground ball up the middle prematurely, broke two hard from second and ended up a sitting duck in a rundown when pitcher Zac Gallen fielded the ball.
“Just a fundamental mistake by a kid,” Bochy said. “I like the way he’s playing. Just a mistake. He thought it was up the middle and he learned from it.”
At any other time of year, it would have been a minor detail on an otherwise productive day – he was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. But it’s September. The Rangers are still in a playoff race. And every mistake right now is costly for them.
That’s the reality.
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