Three takeaways from the Texas Rangers series finale vs. the Cincinnati Reds
The Texas Rangers were looking to avoid a sweep in their first home series of the season but failed to do so in their 2-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday at Globe Life Field.
The Rangers loss extends their losing streak to four games after a pitching duel between Jack Leiter and Chase Burns.
Relief pitcher Robert Garcia took the loss for the Rangers after giving up a run in 0.1 innings of work.
Jack Leiter dazzles in home debut
Leiter’s 2025 season was the best of his career and if his first two starts of the season are any indication, he’s looking even better in 2026..
The Vanderbilt product confounded Reds batters, inducing 18 swings and misses while only giving up one run and four hits in five innings with nine strikeouts.
Leiter primarily relied on his fastball, accounting for 39% of his pitches, but it was his changeup and slider he went to when he was looking for punchouts with seven of his nine Ks coming from those pitches.
Leiter talked about his success with the changeup and slider and how the roof being open affected him on the mound.
“I mean, the wind was crazy, and I think it was making the breaking stuff kind of drop more at times, and just understanding that and taking advantage of it, Leiter said. “I think it took a little while to feel out what my pitches were doing, because they were definitely moving differently than I’m used to when the roof is closed.”
Leiter said it was challenging to take advantage of the windy conditions.
“...That’s kind of where the frustration comes in, trying to hold myself to a standard as the starting pitcher who can hopefully cover a lot of innings this year, and on a day where it felt like the stuff was good, and only walked one and only gave up one run, it feels like I should be going a lot deeper than five innings,” said Leiter.
Manager Skip Schumaker was happy with how Leiter threw strikes and used his arsenal.
“I don’t know the numbers. I’m guessing 65-70% strikes. Probably the first inning, got the pitch count up a little bit, but settled in and probably cost him an inning,” said Schumaker, “He’s got elite stuff. I mean, he’s throwing 99 miles an hour. Changeup, I thought was really good, slider, curveball. I mean, he was working. He had all four pitches working today and gave up one run. So, I mean, pretty dang good start.”
Rangers struggle to score in home opening series
The Rangers’ offense struggled to generate runs in their series against the Reds with only three runs in the series’ first two games with Sunday’s game being a similarly low scoring affair.
The Rangers first at-bat with a runner in scoring position came in the third inning when outfielder Wyatt Langford struck out with runners on the corners with two outs in the third inning. Their next opportunity came in the sixth inning with Langford on second base and Jake Burger at the plate with two outs but like Langford before him, Burns struck out the first baseman with a slider.
The Rangers got to Burns in the seventh inning when Joc Pederson, who had been hitless to start the season, hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.
After the homer Pederson showed some emotion and Schumaker said it was good for the veteran to let it out.
“This is a hard game. I think you know you want to do whatever you can to produce, not only for your teammates, for your family, for your for the fans, and nobody feels worse than the player that’s struggling or striking out,” Schumaker said. “There’s probably a lot of pent up frustration that he was feeling to start the season, and I think showing that emotion, I think, is a good thing for him... I think anytime you hold any emotion is not good. So hopefully he got it all out of his system and continues to build off of a really good day.”
Pederson talked about getting the proverbial monkey off his back with a hit, emphasizing the season is still young.
“I mean, obviously it’s frustrating not getting hits. So you play this game, you get results. But I’ve been swinging at strikes, been taking balls, been hitting some balls decently, just haven’t fallen. And that’s part of it. You stick with that process over the time. You know it’s gonna it’s gonna work out like it has in my career. But like I said, you want results, and luckily, I got one today, but we still came up short. So it’s not about me, it’s about winning ball games,” said Pederson.
The effects of the wind on batters came up with Pederson who acknowledged it, but said it’s not an excuse.
“I think the dome open, I think it was really windy,” Pederson said. “I mean, obviously Chase Burns has a really good arm, but I think we’re a better offense than we showed, but, I mean, there’s no excuses. We still got to score some more runs.”
Burns finished the game giving up one run off five hits with nine strikeouts in six innings of work.
The Rangers had a chance to take the lead after Burns was taken out of the game, but with runners on second and third base with one out, Andrew McCutchen struck out before Brandon Nimmo came to the plate and forced a full count — but struck out to end the inning.
The Rangers finished the game going 0 for 6 with RISP.
Carter Baumler heads to IL
Relief pitcher Carter Baumler was the feel good story of the year heading into the season after Schumaker came out for a mound visit to let him know he had made the team, and was off to a good start with a 3.18 ERA but on Sunday the team announced the rookie was headed to the injured list.
Baumler was put on the 15-day IL with a right intercostal strain and the Rangers called up Luis Curvelo from Triple-A Round Rock to replace him on the roster.
The Rangers will be back in action against the Seattle Mariners at 7:05 p.m. on Monday at Globe Life Field.
This story was originally published April 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM.
