When Alex Rios was acquired in August after the suspension of Nelson Cruz for PED use, it wasn't expected that Rios would make up for the power lost by Cruz's departure but would instead provide a fairly consistent bat that could hit in the late-middle third of the Rangers' order.
Rios was one of the few bats producing as the Rangers were in a terrible offensive slump, but now he is starting to cool as the rest of the Rangers' offense is starting to show some life, and as the team's de facto No. 3 hitter, it's not great timing.
Rios is struggling in this Tampa Bay series, which has seen the Rays take two of the first three games and he's 2-for-14 with no RBIs after going 0-for-5 on Wednesday night in the Rangers' extra-inning loss.
The Rangers' offense has seen somewhat of an uptick over the past two games and has actually staked the club to early leads in both games, but for them to sustain that and make a push toward one of the two wild card spots they're going to have to start getting better production from Rios again.
Thursday night's series finale with the Rays doesn't line up well for Rios, who's 1-for-11 with a single and eight strikeouts against Rays starter Matt Moore.
