Two games, two messy losses for Texas Rangers to start the 2021 MLB regular season
Things can only go up from here.
Right?
That’s the hope of the Texas Rangers, who in their first two games have actually looked worse than the lowly preseason expectations placed upon them.
At least their starter made it out of the first inning Saturday afternoon.
Kohei Arihara was not the problem in the first start of his MLB career. The two pitchers who followed him, though, were, and so was defense that was lacking at critical moments as the Kansas City Royals rallied to a 11-4 victory at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals erased a 4-0 deficit after four innings by scoring three off Arihara in the fifth and seven in the sixth against Josh Sborz and John King, the only two relievers on Opening Day who did not yield a run.
The Rangers have already allowed 24 runs and made a week’s worth of fielding mistakes.
It’s early — really, really early — but the issues that have sunk the Rangers might stick around a while.
“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and have dialogue about it, which we did today,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “The sky’s not falling. There’s going to be another team in baseball that’s 0-2.
“We have to play better. We have to pitch better. We have to learn from our mistakes and not make them again. That’s the key to this whole thing. It’s a long season. We’ve still got 160 games. I’m not going to panic after two games.”
Joey Gallo connected for his first home run of the season, a 450-foot two-run shot in the first inning off former Rangers All-Star left-hander Mike Minor. Gallo scored in the third on a two-run single by Nate Lowe that made it 4-0.
Arihara didn’t allow a hit until the third and narrowly missed allowing two solo homers in the fourth. His luck ran out in the fifth.
Michael Taylor opened the inning with a solo shot to center field, and Kyle Isbel was gifted a triple after center fielder Leody Taveras lost a high fly ball in the sun. The first four Royals reached before Arihara retired a batter, and the inning ended on a line-drive double play.
Woodward dismissed the Taveras miscue as bad luck. The Rangers also failed to defend a bunt for the second straight game and saw it turn into a single in the middle of a rally.
But Arhara had given the Rangers a chance to win, something Kyle Gibson didn’t do on Opening Day by allowing five runs in the first inning while recording only one out.
“I think the Royals lineup had better timing and better swings the second time through the lineup,” Arihara said. “The next time I will be able to go longer.”
Arihara struck out only one, but didn’t walk any batters. Sborz, though, walked two of the three hitters he faced to open the sixth and help get the Royals running.
King, a ground-ball specialist, entered with the bases loaded but couldn’t get the double-play grounder. Instead, Taylor doubled in two, Isbel drove in another, and Whit Merrifield singled in two more. A Carlos Santana double two batters later capped the big inning.
Whatever good vibes the Rangers had were gone. The offense had only two hits after the third, though Woodward didn’t see the Rangers stray from their approach.
“Any time you fall behind you lose momentum,” Woodward said. “That’s why it’s so important to maintain that lead and for us to put more runs on the board when we have that lead.”
Only 160 more games to go.
