Losing streak ends but Rangers demoralized in finale against Minnesota

ARLINGTON, Texas — After over 100 days in first place in the American League West, the Texas Rangers saw a faint glimmer of renewed hope neutralized by the Twins in a four-game set in Minnesota.

Some familiar demons resurfaced from the bullpen to ruin a series that had Texas snap an eight-game losing skid only to follow up their victory with one of the most backbreaking losses of the season. Ultimately, the Rangers Texas lost the series three games to one to allow the Seattle Mariners to leapfrog the two Texas teams for first place in the West.

Texas now finds themselves out of first place for the first time since April 8th.

• Game 127: Texas 5, Minnesota 7 (W: Winder, 2-0, L: Sborz, 5-6, Sv: Jax, 2)
• Game 128: Texas 2, Minnesota 12 (W: Gray, 7-6, L: Dunning, 9-6)
• Game 129: Texas 6, Minnesota 2 (W: Burke, 5-2, L: Jax, 5-8)
• Game 130: Texas 6, Minnesota 7 in 13 innings (W: Floro, 5-6, L: Hernandez, 1-2)

Stopper – When confronted with an eight-game losing streak, the ace may have been a part of it, but it’s also up to the ace to stop it. That was Max Scherzer’s job on Saturday and he performed as needed.

With Texas already having lost two games in the set, the Rangers needed a stopper, and one finally showed up for them. Scherzer – coming from giving up three runs in just 3 ⅔ innings against the Brewers – gave up just two runs in seven innings against the Twins. He also registered 10 strikeouts for the 113th time in his career.

Scherzer now maintains a very comfortable 3rd place spot in history for most career games with 10 or more strikeouts behind Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan. While he didn’t get the win, he did hold Minnesota at bay, and the offense was patient enough to break through in the ninth inning to get the club back in the win column.

Patience is a virtue – In that win on Saturday, the Twins and Rangers were pretty rally-free, instead opting for a dueling mini-slugfest, with Texas getting a couple of solo shots from Mitch Garver and Adolis Garcia and Minnesota getting a solo homer from Jorge Polanco and an RBI double from Max Kepler.

By the time Scherzer was out of the game, it appeared that Texas might be headed toward an extra-inning affair or walk-off loss. But in the top of the 9th, off one of the Twins’ best relievers, Griffin Jax, Texas managed two singles before Ezequiel Duran got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jax then walked Robbie Grossman to score a run, then walked Leody Taveras to give Texas some insurance.

Dylan Floro came in to replace Jax and hit Marcus Semien to score a run and then allowed a sacrifice fly to score another. All in all, the Rangers managed to score four runs in the 9th inning off only two singles, totaling three walks, two hit batters and a sacrifice fly in the frame. For the league’s top scoring offense, there has to be multiple ways to score, and this was certainly an unorthodox, but effective way to win a game.

Turning a corner – Since coming back from the injured list, Jonah Heim had been going through a rough time at the plate, registering only two hits since returning on August 13. Heim hopefully turned a corner in the game on Sunday, rifling a line drive grand slam off starter Bailey Ober to give Texas, at the time, a 5-0 lead.

Similarly, Adolis Garcia had cooled off in the month of August, registering very inconsistent performances at the plate and looking very lost. Going into Saturday’s game, Adolis had a slash of .205/.311/.462 with 32 strikeouts over just the previous 21 games. On Saturday, Garcia had a respectable 2-for-5 effort with a homer and two runs scored.

Having both Heim and Garcia back to “normal” down the stretch would be an incredible boost to the Rangers as they cling to playoff hopes.

Bullpen Battered – For the majority of the eight-game losing streak, by the time the bullpen entered the game, the Rangers were already behind. But problems that reared their head in Arizona – with both Aroldis Chapman and Will Smith suffering blown leads – came back again in the opener at the Twin Cities and capped off a demoralizing series in the finale.

With Texas up 5-4 going into the 8th inning on Thursday, manager Bruce Bochy would try to get reliever Josh Sborz back back on track. Sborz had given up runs in his previous two outings against the Brewers and Angels but had been a valuable late-innings arm earlier in the season.

This outing against Minnesota did nothing to help Sborz get back in shape as he allowed a leadoff single and a game-tying double before walking another hitter. He ultimately didn’t record an out in the inning and Will Smith would come on to replace him, inducing a double play, but then surrendering a two-run homer to put the Twins on top, completing the comeback.

In Friday night’s game, after Dane Dunning was off his game, which made for an early night, which meant innings for Martin Perez and Grant Anderson who each gave up multiple runs in their time on the mound.

On Sunday, Chris Stratton allowed a grand slam to bring the Twins within a run after Texas led 5-0 into the 6th. After Smith had been burned already to get out of a jam in the 8th, Chapman came in for his second appearance in as many days to preserve the one-run lead. As has been the case more often than not of late, the game-tying run was surrendered and eventually the Twins would walk it off against a returning Jonathan Hernandez in the 13th.

Saturday was the only time in the previous 10 games that the Rangers’ bullpen has not allowed a run.

Dunning undone – In the month of August, Dane Dunning had been outstanding, keeping his team in the game as much as he could and going deep into games. On Friday, that came to an end for the righty, as Dunning lasted just four innings and surrendered four runs while walking an extremely uncharacteristic six hitters.

Dunning and Bochy would chalk it up as just a bad outing, with Dane unable to command any of his pitches where he wanted them but his short outing set the tone for what would end up being another difficult series for Texas.

Losing as a team – While it may have seemed like Texas was well on their way to a series split with the Twins, a total team collapse befell them from virtually the moment Heim’s grand slam landed in the stands 13 inning affair. It started with Jordan Montgomery failing to make it through six innings which beckoned Stratton from the ‘pen to make a comfortable 5-0 game a close 5-4 affair after he allowed a grand slam.

With the offense dead cold following the five early runs, Chapman once again registered a blown save, giving up the tying run in the bottom of the 9th after runners advanced on the first disengagement call of the season. With the ghost runner on in the 10th and 11th innings, the Rangers were unable to get anyone across the plate.

They finally broke through and pushed across Leody Taveras on a sacrifice fly, but then Brock Burke walked the first hitter he saw, uncorked a wild pitch and a grounder to Ezequiel Duran resulted in a very indecisive fielder’s choice, allowing a tying run to score.

Texas couldn’t answer in the 13th and then three consecutive two-out walks from Hernandez sent the Rangers to New York on a bad note and in second place.

Do you think the Rangers will be able to recover from another series loss? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.