ARLINGTON, TX – Coming out of the break, it seemed like the Rangers couldn’t lose, but after a devastating trip away from home against division foes, this squad has only continued to slump.
The Rangers have been strong this year at home posting 12 more wins in Globe Life Field than elsewhere, but this previous weekend series saw the Rangers take three straight losses to the Philadelphia Phillies.
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In this series the Rangers starting pitching seemed to continue on with what it does with Merrill Kelly giving up four through 4 ⅓, Jacob deGrom giving up three through 6 ⅔ and Patrick Corbin allowing three through 4 ⅓ as well.
Minus the ninth inning in Friday’s game when the Rangers allowed five runs, the Rangers gave up just a total of 11 runs throughout the series. If the Rangers had reached their “magic number” in runs this year, of four or more runs in which they are 45-13 in such games, they would have taken the series.
However, the offense sputtered in clutch situations, like on Saturday when they out-hit the Phillies and left six runners on base or on Sunday when they matched the Phils hitting and left eight runners on.
This is no new story for the Rangers this year though.
A lineup that was thought to have some of the leagues best sluggers this season with names like Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia, Joc Pederson, Kyle Higashioka and Jake Burger making the opening day roster has produced the third worst slugging percentage in all of baseball this year.
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While the pitching has been by far the best staff in the league this season, the hitting has continued to struggle ranking 8th in most runners left on base, a stat they finished in the bottom half of the league in last year.
As the playoff race heats up for some, if the Rangers can’t find their bats, they might be missing their second straight playoff since winning the World Series.
The Rangers will welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first of a three game set tonight with Nathan Eovaldi on the bump.
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