Ian Kinsler has been one of the few guys hitting lately for the Texas Rangers, and he added two more hits on Monday night in yet another loss. He even got an RBI.
But Kinsler's base-running blunders killed the Rangers as he recorded two outs on the bases, giving the Rangers just more than 100 outs on the bases this year, a simply remarkable number to fathom.
Kinsler led off the fourth inning with a double and moved to third on a sac bunt from Elvis Andrus to bring up Alex Rios with one out and a runner on third with the Rangers trailing 1-0. Rays pitcher Alex Cobb has an incredibly slow delivery, anyway, and for some reason was pitching from the wind-up with a runner on third base.
Kinsler was halfway down the baseline before Cobb pitched the ball, and Rios hit a grounder back to third as Kinsler retreated, for some reason. Kinsler was caught in a rundown between third and home and tagged out.
You have to applaud Kinsler's aggressiveness with Cobb's odd decision, but he should have just kept going toward home and he probably would've been able to make it.
Later in the game, Kinsler hit another double with two outs and and then with Andrus at the plate, he took off for third and was picked off by Cobb. That move made absolutely no sense considering a single scores Kinsler and Andrus is the team's hottest hitter this month. At that point, the game was tied 2-2 and an Andrus single would've given the Rangers their first lead in a week.
