The Texas Rangers lost by one run to the hottest team in baseball on Tuesday night, and Prince Fielder left five baserunners stranded.
Fielder went 0-for-5 on Tuesday night and grounded into a double play while failing to come through late in the game with runners on base to both add an insurance run and drive in the tying run.
It was the continuation of a month of struggles for Fielder, who is batting just .272 in August. That number alone isn't too concerning, but his on-base percentage of .307 and particularly his slugging percentage of .395 are much more so.
In August, Fielder has just four doubles and two homers with 12 RBIs and he's failed to come through in big spots on numerous occasions. In the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday after Shin-Soo Choo hit a one-out single to put the tying run on base, Fielder had trouble catching up to Roberto Osuna's fastballs that were up in the zone and asking to be driven.
If you're a Rangers fan, you don't even want to think about the possibility of Fielder's surgically repaired cervical spine being an issue right now, and we're not suggesting it is, but to see him struggle to catch up to meaty fastballs like that is a bit concerning.
