Texas Rangers Defense Falters Late

The Texas Rangers lost a games last night to the Twins, and I was a little upset at the way it all went down in the bottom of the ninth inning. First there was the blown call by the third base umpire, then there was the bobble by Joakim Soria which ended a game that should have been won by the Texas Rangers 3-2. As I mulled over what happened last night and thought more about it, I realized that more went wrong than just the bottom of the ninth to make the Texas Rangers lose the game like they did.

It’s easy to blame the umpire crew after a loss like last night, and it was pretty obvious that Eduardo Nunez went outside the baseline, and while I know that the safe play is going to first, Adrian Beltre had the ball with the runner right there next to him and the tag seemed like a no brainer.

“Somehow there is a new rule,” Beltre said. “You go out to left field and you come back to third base and it’s good.” texasrangers.com

Although that was a frustrating play, that was just the icing on the cake.

The Texas Rangers had Alex Rios to third with no outs in the top of the ninth and couldn’t score him. I know many people are not fans of the sac bunt in most situations, me included, and with the way Chris Gimenez has been hitting the ball, I think a bunt in that situation was a very bad idea. You can’t leave insurance runs on third and expect to win consistently.

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Joakim Soria ended the game with his error, and he will make that play nine times out of ten. Remember, Donnie Murphy was robbed of a three run home run earlier in the game that would have been the difference, along with getting Rios home in the ninth.

All in all, this game was just one of 162, but it was one I hope we don’t see repeated very often this season. Lost in the shuffle is the fact that Scott Baker came out and did a really good job of giving the Texas Rangers a chance to win, and that is really all we can ask from the Texas Rangers starters. Hopefully, the Texas Rangers bounce back tonight and Joe Saunders can accomplish what Baker did last night.