On Tuesday, Jack Leiter fell back into the habit of throwing lots of four-seam fastballs against Kansas City. When he does, it apparently triggers some kind of reaction. Not a good one. Opponents\u2019 bats become the devil\u2019s tools, and the Rangers burn. Consider Tuesday\u2019s 6-1 loss to a Kansas City team that had struggled offensively even worse than the Rangers have this season.<\/p>\n
Leiter allowed all six runs, four of them coming on a season-high three homers.<\/p>\n
Rangers<\/p>\n
Then again, the Rangers have their own Jekyll and Hyde tendencies on offense. And even as they had recently built a four-game winning streak<\/a>, they\u2019d looked more undisciplined. They struck out 14 times on Tuesday, matching their season-high. They went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and are 6-for-44 (.136) over their last four games.<\/p>\n But it was still only their second loss in the last nine games. The two losses have both been started by Leiter and marred by too many fastballs. On Tuesday, Leiter threw 37 of them or 39.4% of his pitches. The last time out: He used it 39.1%.<\/p>\n It\u2019s actually the third time this season he\u2019s eclipsed 39% with the fastball usage. For those three starts, he\u2019s lugging around an 8.40 ERA, has issued 12 walks and four homers. In the nine others, in which he\u2019s shown more diversity with his repertoire, he\u2019s like a refined gentleman with a very distinguished 3.10 ERA. The good news is he\u2019s much more often this year been the refined gentleman, but the Rangers must now embark on a quest to solve the strange case of Mr. Leiter.<\/p>\n Is he simply falling in love with the fastball and throwing it too often by choice? Or is he struggling to command his secondary pitches and forced to throw the fastball in fastball counts, turning him into something like a caged animal. <\/p>\n Allow Bruce Bochy another theory.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, the usage was fine,\u201d Bochy said rather bluntly. \u201cIt\u2019s where you put it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just didn\u2019t have command of all his pitches, the fastball included, and made some mistakes in the zone, as well as missing pretty big at times. The stuff was there. The command was off.\u201d <\/p>\n In the first inning Tuesday, Leiter threw 12 four-seamers, eight of them for strikes. But Bobby Witt Jr. clubbed the one he saw for a double and Maikel Garcia lined one for a single on a 3-1 pitch.<\/p>\n When Leiter threw four straight fastballs to Salvador Perez, the fourth left the ballpark to give Kansas City a 3-0 lead. It should be at least noted that, based on his statistical profile this season, Perez had caused very little damage on the pitch. He had just a .292 slugging percentage. <\/p>\n \u201cHe made some mistakes in the heart of the plate,\u201d Bochy said. \u201cThe homer, he didn\u2019t get that fastball where he wanted it. It was down the middle. So, yeah, the fastball is fine. As long as you locate it.\u201d <\/p>\n It was the first of season-high three homers he allowed. Witt hit a changeup for another in the fifth and Perez, after getting ahead 2-0 on sliders in the dirt, homered on a third slider. But Perez also doubled home a run in between homers on yet another fastball, the fifth he saw in a six-pitch plate appearance. Leiter began the at-bat with three fastballs that missed, according to umpire Gabe Morales, though had replay review been allowed, the at-bat might have looked different. It appeared the first pitch caught the top of the zone. <\/p>\n Leiter said Kansas City seemed to be on the attack against his fastball early and the Royals were able to flip the script when he started using his offspeed stuff more heavily.<\/p>\n \u201cI just didn\u2019t make pitches,\u201d Leiter said. \u201cWhen you have to make pitches in big counts against the guys in the lineup that can hurt you, you have to do it. And I just didn\u2019t do it. I don\u2019t think there is one exact thing, but the last couple times, results didn\u2019t go my way and I\u2019m going to figure it out.\u201d <\/p>\n This particular start might have featured something of a boomerang effect for Leiter. He said being \u201cmore competitive in the zone\u201d with offspeed pitches was a big focus after his last start. But when he missed \u201cthey made me pay.\u201d <\/p>\n A year ago, as Leiter broke into the majors, he relied too heavily on the fastball, throwing it over 50 percent of the time. He was both too wild with it and had to throw it in fastball counts, which led to hitters batting .350 against the pitch. <\/p>\n This season, he\u2019s infused his repertoire with a sinker and a changeup to complement the fastball and slider. The fastball usage for the season has dropped to 30%. It seem to play better when he wants to throw it, instead of when he has to throw it. <\/p>\n On Tuesday, he fell back into an old pattern. And the results were ugly. Time to put Mr. Leiter back into the bottle. <\/p>\n Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant<\/a><\/p>\n Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DE2JJZMAQFGZVEGDIKO4II4KEY.jpg\")
Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, right, heads to the mound to pull starting pitcher Jack Leiter (35) during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)(Julio Cortez \/ AP)<\/p>\n