ARLINGTON: Tuesday night, it was all about the little things.
The Rangers were almost flawless at all the small things last season, from sprinting the bases to turning routine ground balls into outs and everything in between, which helped them rank among the greatest teams in baseball.
It was the small things that added up to a 7-6 loss on Tuesday night, extending Texas’ losing streak to five games, as the Rangers let up five straight runs to the Mets over the game’s last four frames.
Manager Bruce Bochy stated, “There’s no getting around it—it’s a tough one.” “We allowed that one to escape.”
This season, the Rangers have lost three times when leading after seven innings. This particular kind of defeat is exacerbated by a string of “little things” that added up to become one of the most difficult ones of the season.
Little thing No. 1: Quiet offense late in games
One of the main causes of the Rangers’ difficulties this season has been their offense. Once again, it’s difficult to criticize the offense when they can score six runs, as they did on Tuesday. But after all of the run scoring was done, the real problem surfaced.
The fifth inning saw two home runs from Josh Smith and Wyatt Langford give the Rangers their first lead of the game, accounting for all but one of the team’s runs.
However, the Rangers didn’t have another baserunner following the exciting fifth inning until Jonah Heim’s leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth. Ezequiel Duran’s double play hit eliminated that automatically. For the last four innings of the game, Texas had no runners in scoring position.
“We must continue to improve on our offensive performance,” Marcus Semien, who went 0-for-3 with a walk, stated. “I believe we accomplished a few worthwhile goals. We neglected to attend to a few minor details as well. Of course, the offense has been a major worry. Today, we saw some life in our bats, but we still need to perform all the tiny tasks that we completed last year with great success.
Little thing No. 2: Defensive miscues
As a manager, Bochy places a strong focus on mastering the fundamentals. The Rangers have been among the best defensive clubs in baseball throughout the Bochy era.
Gold Glover Jonah Heim’s interference as a catcher in the ninth inning was the lone formal error Texas was assessed on Tuesday; nonetheless, there were plenty plays that could have been made but weren’t.
Texas infielders botched two potential double-play balls Tuesday night, one in the fifth and another in the seventh, which ultimately enabled runs to score as the Mets gradually whittled away at the Rangers’ advantage in the closing frames.
“Those are the ones we typically turn; that will happen from time to time,” Bochy stated. The one constant across this run of play has been our strong defensive performance… Simply put, we haven’t scored many runs. We had the runs tonight, but as I mentioned, we were just short of finishing.
Little thing No. 3: Solo homers
Solo home runs don’t kill you, according to the majority of pitchers. But practically anything will kill you when the team is floundering as badly as the Rangers are right now.
Thus, even though Michael Lorenzen earned his ninth excellent start of the year, the Mets were mostly kept within striking distance thanks to single home runs from Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo, which accounted for two of the three runs he gave up.
According to Lorenzen, “you want to be the guy who steps in, sets the tone, and gets you back on track.” I made an effort to do it today. I simply wasn’t worthy enough. Although it’s disheartening, our troops will still show up and go to work. This clubhouse is obviously experienced in winning, so if anyone can achieve it, it’s these men.
With 10 losses in their past 14 games, the Rangers are now seven games below.500 for the first time this season. The clubhouse has made it clear time and time again that everyone is calm. Perhaps Lorenzen, though, said it best.
He declared, “There are still a lot of games.” However, there must be a sense of urgency in every game. There should just be a sense of pride in our status as Major League Baseball players and professional athletes, regardless of where you are at in life. There’s a sense of pride that goes into your job, from the preparation we do before every game to the work we do throughout the summer. Therefore, it shouldn’t matter how many games remain or where the season is in.