Let’s be real: Rangers needed a sweep to keep wild-card hopes alive

The Texas Rangers salvaged the finale of their three-game series Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Angels, but there’s no salvaging the season.

The Rangers needed a sweep (or, at the very least, to take two of three) to maintain any semblance of realistic wild-card hopes alive.

Sure, they haven’t officially been eliminated, but that’s coming soon, despite the Rangers’ 4-2 win on Sunday.

They have 13 games remaining, including three against the Mariners and three against the A’s before returning home for the final seven.

The Twins have a two-game lead on the rest of the pack for the second wild-card spot, including the Rangers, who are five games back with 13 remaining. Oh, and the Angels, Mariners and Royals are all in front of the Rangers. So make your October plans; there won’t be any playoff games to think about for the first time in three years and third time since 2010.

“It’s do or die. We can’t afford to lose anymore games,” said Adrian Beltre, whose two-run double in the first inning gave the Rangers and starter Miguel Gonzalez an early lead. “We don’t think about winning every game, but we need to start playing better to give ourselves a chance.”

But even Beltre knows it’s the longest of long shots now. The Twins do have three road games against the Yankees and Indians apiece but also have seven games left against the rebuild-mode Tigers. The Angels have three-game sets against the Indians, Astros and Mariners and a four-game series with the last-place White Sox.

The Mariners have three at home against the Rangers beginning Tuesday, plus three-game sets against the Indians, Athletics and Angels. Lastly, the Royals probably have the easiest remaining schedule. They have nine games against the Blue Jays, Tigers and White Sox. But they do have a make-up game with the Yankees on Sept. 25 and finish the season at home against, oddly, the Diamondbacks.

The Rangers aren’t ready to concede anything, however.

“We approach these games as though we’re still in it. This season is still in the balance for us in the sense that we have to win baseball games,” manager Jeff Banister said. “We can’t focus on anything other than that. We’ll use the players and run the bullpen out there we feel how it needs to be done in winning situations. We’re going to play to win.”

Gonzalez earned his first win with the Rangers after allowing one run on two hits and five walks in five innings. The bullpen held the Angels to one run on two hits over the final four innings. The lone run came on Mike Trout’s eighth-inning homer against Matt Bush. Jake Diekman finished the game with a season-high  1 2/3 innings of hitless relief to earn his first save since Sept. 12, 2016.

Joey Gallo’s 490-foot homer in the second inning gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead. It’s the third-longest home run by any player this season and the longest of Gallo’s career. It’s his team-leading 38th this season. It came on a 1-2 pitch.

“It was two strikes and he is nasty,” Gallo said of Angels starter Garrett Richards. “He was nasty all game. Honestly, I was just trying to put the ball in play, hoping for the best.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2017 at 8:32 PM with the headline "Let’s be real: Rangers needed a sweep to keep wild-card hopes alive."