Rangers Fall to Seattle 4-3: Another Loss from the Bullpen

Stop me if you have heard this one… Going into the bottom of the eighth inning the Rangers had a 3-2 lead over Seattle. Rangers’ reliever Pedro Strop had two runners on, when former Ranger Justin Smoak hit an RBI single to tie the game. From there Ron Washington replaced Strop with Darren Oliver, who then allowed an RBI single to Jack Cust. This resulted in the winning run of the game.

To put it simply, without closer Neftali Feliz the bullpen is forced to handle these high pressure situations. Neftali is scheduled to pitch a rehab start in Frisco, and could be back with the Rangers as early as Friday.

The offense last night was serviceable; the three RBIs in the game for the Rangers came from Adrian Beltre, Michael Young, and pinch hitter Elvis Andrus. The team still left some dinner on the table only going two for seven with runners in scoring position.

Last night on the Rangers radio pregame show, Bryan Dolgin mentioned how the starting pitching has not been a concern. This is completely accurate, while we have had some bad outings, the pitchers are all very good. Alexi Ogando was excellent last night, and didn’t deserve the lack of offense and bullpen support that he received. Ogando went six innings allowing five hits and only one run. He averaged a strikeout per inning with six in the game, he only allowed one walk.

The Rangers need to brush it off and get to work tonight; C.J. Wilson will take the mound against the AL Rookie of the Month- Michael Pineda.

-Jonathan