The most frustrating stretch of the Rangers’ season bottomed-out Sunday with one of the most agonizing losses of the year.
The Blue Jays managed just four hits. Texas left 12 men on base. Somehow, they equated to a 3-2 loss.
In the understatement of the year, Rangers’ manager Jeff Banister grumbled, “We’ve got to be better with runners in scoring position.”
Since getting a homer from Joey Gallo and beating Clayton Kershaw in Dodger Stadium to improve to 36-30 the Rangers have gone 2-8. The offense is the culprit, producing two or fewer runs in seven of those 10 games.
They had their chances Sunday. Plenty of them. But they went an exasperating 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded the tying run at third base in each of the final four innings.
Adrian Beltre, Mitch Moreland and Leonys Martin were a combined 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The Rangers loaded the bases with one out in the 7th but managed just one run. In the 8th Elvis Andrus was stranded after lead-off double when Shin-Soo Choo meekly struck out on a check swing. In the 9th Rougned Odor stood at 2nd with no outs with hitters 3-4-5 coming up. But Prince Fielder and Beltre flied out and Moreland went down on three pitches.
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And we were painfully reminded that with hits in baseball, quality will always trump quantity.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
