Texas Rangers lose again, but do provide some excitement with news of a promotion

The Texas Rangers lost again on Monday night 9-6 in 12 innings against the Los Angeles Angels. That makes it four losses in the last five games. They had numerous chances to win the game, but just did not that lucky break or big hit. It just felt like from about the eighth inning on that it was just not their night. Unfortunately, they will not have Jon Gray available on Tuesday to be able to put a stop to this losing stretch due to blister issues. It just feels like this team is at a place where not much is going right currently, but there is hope with news of a top prospect being promoted for the game tonight.

What has went wrong for the Texas Rangers?

They won last Tuesday against the Cardinals 6-4 to continue an undefeated June to that point. That was the day it was announced deGrom would be missing the rest of the season. Since then the Rangers wasted a complete-game one-run performance from Jon Gray and they managed just three hits against the Rays in losing game one of that series. They did win on Saturday with Eovaldi on the mound against Rays' rookie Taj Bradley, but then Martin Perez struggled in the last game of the Rays' series. Monday night they wasted numerous run-scoring opportunities late as they lost in 12 innings. The only thing going right at this time is the bullpen.

The bullpen last night will take the loss and Cole Ragans will have those four runs in the 12th go against him, but they did not truly lose this game for the Rangers. Josh Sborz, Will Smith, and Cole Ragans kept the Angels scoreless from the 8th through the 11th innings. They did a good job until they had to go through Ohtani and Trout a second time.

The offense which has been the best in baseball for the first two-plus months of the season could not come through with runners in scoring position from the fourth inning to the end of the game. The Rangers went up 5-1 after three innings. After the third inning, the Rangers were 1-14 with runners in scoring position and scored one run. That included having multiple runners in scoring position in the ninth and tenth innings and then having two runners on in the 11th inning.

The main culprits last night for this lack of offensive showing are Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe. They combined to go 0-13 last night with six strikeouts. and they contributed heavily to 16 men being left on base. Semien saw his 25-game hit streak end on June 7th in the 1-0 shutout against the Cardinals. He went 0-4 that night and over his last six games, he is 4-29. Lowe is also in a similar slump. Over Lowe's last six games, he is 2-23, with 13 strikeouts to four walks. If you want to know why the offense does not seem as potent lately look at what these two are doing and that will answer a lot of your questions. Semien and Lowe have played in every game this season and might be suffering from a bout of fatigue.

No rest for the weary though. The Rangers are in a stretch that will see them play 30 games in 31 days before they get to the All Star break. It is a brutal stretch that will really test this team as the quality of competition increases. Players like Semien and Lowe have to find a way to come out of these slumps they are in and it is up to Bruce Bochy to find a way to get players rest during this stretch.

Texas Rangers Call up a Top Pitching Prospect

The Rangers will have to pick themselves up and start to turn things around on Tuesday night as it looks like Cody Bradford will be starting on short rest in what will likely be a bullpen game for the Texas Rangers. Number four prospect Owen White is getting the call-up for this game and could make his MLB debut tonight. He has been pitching better over the last two to three weeks for Double-A Frisco and was named as the Texas League Pitcher of the Week on Monday. He is coming off a seven-inning, no runs, six strikeouts, and two walks performance on June 7th.

The Rangers have an exhausted bullpen coming off the 12 inning game on Monday, plus the three game series against Tampa. The game on Tuesday night will be a test for these young pitchers to be able to keep Texas in the game while also pitching into at least the sixth or seventh innings so that arms like Grant Anderson, Josh Sborz, and Will Smith can get a day of rest.

The game time is 7:05pm tonight and the game will be broadcast locally by Bally Sports Southwest.