Following a road sweep in Chicago over the weekend, Rangers manager Jeff Banister was looking for a spark in a struggling lineup heading into Monday's series opener against a Yankees team that entered the series in an even bigger slump.
So Banister moved Rougned Odor from his usual sixth or seventh spot in the order up to the leadoff spot while dropping leadoff hitter Delino DeShields from leadoff to the No. 9 spot in the order.
While the move made perfect sense in theory given the fact DeShields has struggled so far this year and Odor has improved his base-running, it didn't produce results.
In fact, the Rangers were no-hit into the seventh inning before mustering a late run on a solo homer from Brett Nicholas, of all people. The team managed just three hits to go with two walks. Odor was 0-for-4 and DeShields was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Don't be surprised to see Banister run the same lineup out again on Tuesday, but this time he'll just be hoping for some results and a win to snap the team's four-game skid.
