Texas Rangers leave 12 on base as offense stalls in 3-2 loss to Rockies
The Texas Rangers had their chances on Saturday afternoon. They just never capitalized.
The Rangers came away empty handed when they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning. And again when they had runners at second and third with no outs in the eighth.
A potential walk-off victory in the ninth inning ended with Rougned Odor being called out on strikes.
In the end, the Colorado Rockies prevailed 3-2 over the Rangers at Globe Life Field. The Rangers left 12 runners on base and went a dismal 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
“We had a lot of opportunities, especially with some of our best hitters up, so it definitely feels like we let one get away from us,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “I thought we did a good job of getting into those positions. Couple of guys with some big walks to get us into position to score, but we either missed a pitch or didn’t get it done when we had the opportunities.”
Texas played from behind all day, falling into a 2-0 hole in the fourth inning. Colorado took advantage of shaky defense by Texas.
Odor was charged with an error on a fielder’s choice grounder by Charlie Blackmon with one out, which put runners at the corners. The Rockies scored one run on a bloop single down the right-field line by Matt Kemp. The second run scored when Rangers starter Mike Minor couldn’t field a comebacker from Ryan McMahon cleanly, which allowed Blackmon to score on Minor’s errant throw home.
Minor’s throw beat Blackmon to the plate, but it bounced in and catcher Jeff Mathis couldn’t secure it.
“Obviously I just tried to skip it over there thinking that was the quickest way, bang-bang play or whatever,” Minor said. “It didn’t work out.”
The Rockies added one more run in the seventh, which proved to be enough on a day the Rangers offense stalled.
The Rangers had an opportunity in the bottom of the fourth when Elvis Andrus drew a leadoff walk, but he was caught stealing second with a nice tag by Rockies shortstop and Irving native Trevor Story.
After scoring one run in the fifth, Texas had great chances the rest of the way. In the seventh, the Rangers loaded the bases with one out and the Nos. 3-4 hitters coming up. But Danny Santana struck out and Joey Gallo flew out.
Odor started the eighth inning with a bunt single, and Todd Frazier reached on a hit by pitch. They advanced to second and third on a wild pitch with no outs. Once again, though, nothing materialized.
Rockies right-hander Jairo Diaz escaped by striking out Willie Calhoun and Ronald Guzman, and getting Jose Trevino to fly out.
The Rangers scored one run in the ninth on a soft grounder down the third-base line by Gallo, and had the potential winning run at the plate with Gallo at first and Odor at the plate. But Rockies closer Wade Davis ended it by striking out Odor.
“It’s something we are going to address with our guys and often — hitting with runners in scoring position, the type of at-bats, how to get the pitch you are looking for,” Woodward said.
Minor took the loss. He allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts over five innings. He threw 98 pitches.
Minor acknowledged he didn’t feel “in sync” coming out of his pregame bullpen session, saying: “A lot of times that doesn’t really matter, though. You throw a bad bullpen or something, and you go into the game and it could be a lot different. I was hoping it would be different, (but) today was kind of a grind, just trying to feel it, trying to figure out some things. Luckily, I felt like I had a decent slider and an OK changeup.
“I was kind of spraying the fastball a little bit more than I would like, but I felt like I kept us in the game for the most part. But we always want to go more than five innings and not make any errors.”
Texas and Colorado will conclude its season-opening three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 7:02 PM.
