Rangers Reaction: One play that wasn't made was too much for offense to overcome
At 2-5, fans of the Texas Rangers might be looking for some silver linings. The Rangers Reaction is here help.
Try these:
The Rangers have not been shut out this season. So, technically, the offense could be worse.
The Rangers have not put a player on the disabled list this series, and will get one off the DL on Thursday.
The Rangers' lowest-attended game this season of 26,758 is 2,277 more than the attendance for the first three games of this road series against the Oakland A's.
However, if the Rangers keep this up, their attendance figures could be in trouble, but tickets would be easy to come by. Yet another silver lining.
Here's some Rangers Reaction from a 6-2 loss Wednesday.
1. The trouble started when Matt Chapman found a hole to open the fourth inning, Chad Pinder was plunked and Bruce Maxwell walked.
The A's had the bases loaded with no outs and their No. 9 hitter up against Doug Fister, who sorely needed a ground ball. Lo and behold, Boog Powell sent a hard one-hopper to first base.
Then, the trouble escalated.
Joey Gallo bobbled the ball, but picked it up and threw home. The throw, possibly rushed, was too wide for catcher Robinson Chirinos to hold the plate for a force, but he had time to tag Chapman coming home.
The tag was applied, bending Chirinos' wrist awkwardly, and the ball popped out of Chirinos' mitt for an E2. Powell is fast, but if the Rangers had made the play cleanly, he could have been doubled up.
"When I caught it, he slid into me and bent my wrist," said Chirinos, who had ice wrapped to his wrist after the game. "If it was broken, I don't think I could have stay in to catch."
The A's 1-0 lead went to 2-0 and jumped to 3-0 as Marcus Semien followed with a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, Jed Lowrie singled to center to score two more.
Fister was done after 3 2/3 innings, which isn't good, but only two of the five runs against him were earned. That also isn't good.
"I've got to be better, period," Fister said. "That's what it is."
Still, it all could have been avoided even with the bases loaded and no outs. Manager Jeff Banister defended Gallo, saying it was a tough throw for a player used to being on the other side of the diamond defensively.
"He's going to make that play and get better at it," Banister said.
But with a razor slim margin for error this season, those are plays that must be made.
"We didn't make a baseball play," Banister said. "We didn't make a baseball play to get us out of an inning."
2. If the 5-0 hole the Rangers faced after four innings felt insurmountable, well, it was.
The offense went back into hibernation a night after collecting 10 hits and scoring four runs. It should have been more if not for four outs on the bases.
But the Rangers didn't even have their fourth base runner Wednesday until the fifth inning, and two of those were wiped out by double plays.
The Rangers scored once in the fifth against Sean Manaea, who is turning into a nice starting pitcher. You better believe the Rangers would take him. And give credit to the A's defense, which made plays that thwarted rallies and saved runs.
"It was really tough to get the ball in the air against him," Banister said. "And whenever he was challenged, he was able to get out of it with some double plays."
No one player or segment of the lineup was to blame. It was truly a team effort, though Nomar Mazara did his best with hits in his first two at-bats and that fifth-inning run. That's two good games early in the season against left-handers for the lefty-hitting Mazara.
The bottom four in the lineup were a black hole again, going 0 for 11. No. 9 hitter Carlos Tocci might be a nice defensive player, but he is overmatched as a hitter. The first four were 1 for 12 until Shin-Soo Choo started the ninth with a homer.
See? That 5-0 hole was insurmountable.
3. Jesse Chavez was the first arm out of the bullpen once Banister had seen enough of Fister, and Jose Leclerc was the next reliever to pitch after Banister had seen enough of Chavez.
In a game that seems insignificant, the relievers used could actually be significant.
The Rangers will need a roster spot Thursday so that Martin Perez can come off the DL to start the finale of a four-game series. With it looking like that Bartolo Colon will stay on the roster, Perez won't be taking his spot.
Leclerc has minor-league options remaining and likely won't be available again until Saturday, so the easiest move is to send him to Triple A Round Rock. But he has also been really good so far this spring.
His work with the bases loaded and no outs after replacing Chavez was terrific.
"He continues to show confidence and promise," Banister said. "We know he's got swing-and-miss stuff. When he throws strikes, he makes it really tough on opposing hitters."
Chavez, who threw 41 pitches in 2 1/3 innings, also likely won't be available to pitch again until Saturday. With Colon presumably moving into Chavez's role as a long reliever, Chavez might draw the short straw. That would also free up a spot on the 40-man roster, though the Rangers are in no position to start giving away good arms.
There are other possibilities, but based on usage and roles, Leclerc and Chavez might be the front-runners.
This story was originally published April 5, 2018 at 12:29 AM with the headline "Rangers Reaction: One play that wasn't made was too much for offense to overcome."