Another left-hander too much for Rangers against Baltimore

The most amazing thing about the Texas Rangers’ season so far is how much they miss a player who many thought had no business being on the roster in the first place.

That player, Delino DeShields, is on the mend from a strained left hamstring and could be back with the Rangers as soon as this weekend. With the Los Angeles Angels scheduled to throw two left-handers, it’s almost certain that DeShields, a right-handed hitter, will return.

The Rangers struggled against another lefty Wednesday, albeit one who has had remarkable success against them in his career. But all they got in eight innings against Wei-Yin Chen was two solo homers, a bunt single and an infield hit en route to a 4-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

“We knew he threw 93-94, but it looks a couple mph harder,” right fielder Shin-Soo Choo said. “It’s a sneaky delivery. He did a good job with off-speed and throwing the fastball in off-speed counts.”

J.J. Hardy pushed the Orioles in the lead in the seventh with a two-run shot off Nick Martinez, who pitched better than his last time out. The Rangers were hurt by an inability to capitalize on a chance in the third and then an inability to do much of anything against Chen thereafter.

Choo, a left-handed hitter, hit a homer off Chen, as did the righty-hitting Ryan Rua. Rua batted sixth and Choo fell from second to seventh against Chen as manager Jeff Banister hoped that the rest of the lineup would find a way to get on base ahead of them.

Rua and Choo, who entered with some success against Chen, did their job. But the two righty hitters atop the lineup, Hanser Alberto and Elvis Andrus, combined to go 0 for 7, and the middle of the order was 1 for 12.

“I still felt we had the right guys in play,” said Banister, who gave Rougned Odor a game out of the leadoff spot after some morning dental work. “With him not there, it is a bit of a mix at the top of the lineup. Elvis has been good against left-handers. It played out just about how we felt like it would, if we would utilize the bottom part of the lineup and get some guys on and play some small ball.”

After Choo homered, Robinson Chirinos walked and Leonys Martin beat out a sacrifice bunt for a hit. Alberto sacrificed the runners to second and third, but Andrus popped out and Prince Fielder grounded out to help Chen improve to 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five career starts against the Rangers.

“He’s probably got some confidence,” Banister said.

DeShields won’t cure all of the Rangers’ woes against lefties, but he will give them a righty hitter with speed and a nose for getting on base atop the lineup and give the Rangers better balance.

DeShields, the Rule 5 pick who must be on the 25-man roster all season or offered back to the Houston Astros, is batting .306 with a .370 on-base percentage against all left-handed pitchers.

The Rangers’ record vs. lefty starters since DeShields went on the DL is 4-4, which isn’t bad at all. They won twice after being dominated by lefties, but won games started by Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale.

But they also scored only 19 runs in those eight games. Choo was the leadoff man in seven of them, going 1 for 23. Alberto was 0 for 3.

“We just came up short tonight,” Banister said.

The Rangers led 2-0 before Jimmy Paredes homered to start the Orioles’ fourth. Baltimore scored an unearned run in the sixth, when an Adrian Beltre error led to Ryan Flaherty scoring on a Paredes grounder.

Chris Davis opened the seventh with a single, just the Orioles’ fourth hit against Martinez, and Hardy connected two batters later on what Martinez (5-5) thought was a good pitch that was sinking down and in.

Martinez, who allowed four runs (three earned) in 6 2/3 innings, was encouraged despite losing his third straight start.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Another left-hander too much for Rangers against Baltimore."