Sloppy loss ends successful first Texas Rangers road trip
The big picture after the Texas Rangers’ first seven road games of 2016 is a good one.
While it’s not quite a Glamour Shot, it’s also not some blurry cellphone photo.
But the Rangers’ 4-3 record after two series at Anaheim and Safeco Field felt like a disappointment after a sloppy, walk-off ending Wednesday, when pinch-hitter Dae-Ho Lee launched a two-run homer to send the Seattle Mariners to a 4-2 victory.
The two winning runs were unearned, as was the first Mariners tally, as the Rangers’ defense had its first lousy game of the season after nine good ones.
The Rangers ran into two double plays on the bases, and the pitch that lost the game was, in the words of the reliever who surrendered it, not good.
But strip away the loss, which prevented a three-game sweep, and the road trip might be remembered later in the season as the stretch where the Rangers started to find their footing in 2016.
Collectively, this road trip was a good one. We got four wins out of it. We probably could have had a couple more, but we were right in every game. That’s important.
Rangers center fielder Delino DeShields
“We won the road trip 4-3 against a couple division rivals, and some guys are getting hot,” left fielder Ian Desmond said. “I felt it. I think everyone else did. We had some good starts, and a lot of good things happened.”
Desmond committed one of the three Rangers errors, missing a Nori Aoki fly ball to start the third. Aoki scored when the next batter, Seth Smith, lined a single to center off A.J. Griffin, and the run ended up being unearned.
Robinson Cano earned every bit of the second run against Griffin, launching a homer deep to right field with two outs in the fifth. Griffin finished the inning at 103 pitches and didn’t return for the sixth.
The right-hander, making his second start of the season and his second since Sept. 24, 2013, worked hard in his five innings. He needed 31 pitches in the first inning and was at 70 after three.
“I was battling myself a little bit early,” Griffin said. “I was able to change my delivery and make some better quality pitches, but I was struggling to find myself early.”
Taijuan Walker was made to work by Rangers hitters, but he didn’t give in much against them in six innings. He yielded five hits, all singles and two of those were on the infield. The Rangers loaded the bases with two outs in the first on Walker’s second walk of the inning, but Desmond bounced into a fielder’s choice.
The only reason the Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the third was because the neighborhood play at second base was banned to start the season. Nomar Mazara appeared to bounce into a double play, but umpire Jeff Nelson called Delino DeShields safe as Ketel Marte didn’t touch second base.
Adrian Beltre followed two batters later with a perfectly placed slow roller to bring in DeShields.
DeShields, who made one of the extra outs on the bases in the fifth, erased the Rangers’ 2-1 deficit in the eighth, opening the inning with his first homer of the season and his first career homer on the road. It was his third hit of the game.
But Mariners relievers retired the last nine Rangers batters and gave their lineup a chance in the 10th against Jake Diekman.
Diekman got Cano to fly out to start the 10th inning, but second baseman Rougned Odor couldn’t handle Nelson Cruz’s hard grounder that was redirected by the mound. It was scored an error on a ball that had an exit velocity of 110 mph.
“I should have had it,” Odor said. “It was a little to my right. It hit the mound and moved the ball, but I should have had it.”
Lee was next, hitting for Adam Lind. The Korean slugger fell behind 0-2 on 97- and 95-mph fastballs. Diekman wanted to throw a high fastball out of the zone on his next pitch to get Lee to chase.
Instead, Lee ended the game as a 97-mph heater was right where he wanted it.
“Today just sucked,” Diekman said. “That pitch needed to be way better. That was terrible. It went right where he could hit it. There was absolutely zero execution on that pitch.”
The ending to the road trip left many viewing the glass as half-empty. But it was a successful trip and might be remembered later in the season.
“I like the way we played,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Four and three going home, win a series against a division foe. I like the way we went about it. The offense got going a little bit. We’ll take the 4-3 and go back to work in our ballpark.”
Jeff Wilson: 817-390-7760, @JeffWilson_FWST
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How the Rangers fared
Hitting: Delino DeShields had three hits, including the game-tying home run in to start the eighth inning. He also scored the game’s first run on Adrian Beltre’s two-out single in the third. ... Nomar Mazara was held without a hit for the first time in his career. After four games, he is batting .375, but he is riding an 0-for-7 stretch.
Pitching: A.J. Griffin survived five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits, but he needed 103 pitches. Thirty-one of those were in the first inning, which ended on a double play with the bases loaded loaded. ... Tony Barnette had his best outing, allowing only one hit in 2 1/3 innings. ... Jake Diekman hadn’t allowed a run since Sept. 12 before coughing up the walk-off homer.
This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Sloppy loss ends successful first Texas Rangers road trip."