Texas Rangers: What Happened In The Miami Marlins Series?

The Texas Rangers’ finish of their home series against the Miami Marlins did not go the way they hoped. Coming off a sweeping of the Tampa Bay Rays, they came into this series with momentum with the intention of winning, possibly sweeping the Marlins. Instead, they won just one of the three games. As a result, Texas stands at 49-52, sitting in third place and 18 games behind the first-place Astros.

The Texas Rangers are 4-6 in their last ten games. So how did they lose to a mediocre Miami Marlins club?

First and foremost, the curse continues for Yu Darvish and Martin Perez just didn’t just didn’t get what he needed from the bats. Cole Hamels had the luck in this series as he had all the support necessary. Perez’s performance is respectable, however, a pitcher can’t win the game all on his own. Perez is usually the pitcher that is constantly bullied by opposing bats. In this game, he showed resilience. At the end of the day, it was the lack of run support that rendered his performance useless. In any case, Perez must keep his head up. For Darvish, it’s just not getting better. Texas is 2-10 in Darvish’s last twelve starts. In these last twelve, Darvish allowed 43 runs and is 1-7. With Darvish getting little to no run support in these last twelve is very worrisome.

Perez pitched in game one, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs, and striking out three batters. Perez pitched a good game, but what happened to him is what’s been happening to Darvish lately. A lack of run support from the bats, resulting in Perez’s efforts useless and him falling to 5-8.

Taking the mound in game two, Hamels pitched 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, four runs, and striking out five batters, improving to 5-1. Not much to talk about in this game. Hamels did allow a three-run homer that allowed Texas’ 6-1 lead to cut to 6-4. However, thanks to the run support, Texas was able to add more runs to win the game 10-4. It’s worrisome about how when Hamels plays, the offense provides run support, but when Darvish plays, it’s the opposite.

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Darvish pitched a season-low 3.2 innings, allowing a season-high nine hits, a season-high ten runs, and striking out five batters, falling to 6-9. Darvish is now a five-game losing streak, which is a career-high. Furthermore, his ten runs allowed is a career-high. It’s sad for Darvish to have his worse career start on possibly his last night in a Rangers uniform. The rumors have changed. First, it’s rumored Texas is looking to trade him, then they’re not, and now they are again. For the moment, we don’t know what to expect regarding Darvish. But whatever happens, happens.

Pitching was effective in the first two games, but game three was a complete disaster. The bullpen allowed only one run in the first two games while allowing only three hits, and striking out seven batters. In game three, five relievers appeared and each allowed at least one run, two relievers allowing four. The final result of game three was a 22-10 loss. That’s what happens when the pitching is sloppy and the bats aren’t explosive. In any case, it really must end.

Second, of all, the bats did not provide enough. Going 33-for-104 is very low production. Going 15-for-36 in game two’s 10-4 Rangers win is good, but 18-for-68 in games one and three is certainly not. Amazingly, Texas struck out only 15 times in this series, which is good, but it didn’t help Perez and Darvish. Five home runs were hit by the bats. The bats’ 154 homers this season makes them third in the league. Texas is 28th in the league in hits with 807, but their 498 scoring runs put them eighth in the league.

The home runs and runs scored is really good, but somehow it’s not enough. Texas can’t have a game in which only the pitching is playing effectively. Everyone has to do their job. Effective pitching and explosive batting pave the way to victory in baseball. In other words, teamwork is the way to go.

Here’s how Texas lost the series; Lack of run support in game one and a huge lack of focus in game three. In game two, everyone did their job and everyone seemed to focus and most of all they remained focused even after Miami threatened to come back. The insufficient focus is what really hurt the club. Everyone must have concentration every game.

Texas begins a three-game series at home tomorrow against the Baltimore Orioles. Remember what happened when Texas was in Baltimore last week? Texas can’t afford to be swept again by a mediocre Orioles ball club who has a 48-53 record.

If the pitching does well and bats wake up and stay awake, Texas can sweep Baltimore and keep playoff hopes alive. In any case, Texas can’t allow Baltimore to humiliate them again.

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