Texas Rangers News: Deadline grade, another reliever injury, West whackiness

The Texas Rangers finally got their first big win of the Seattle Mariners series, and it was much needed. Since starting the tilt against a division rival in the middle of a run towards the playoffs, the team has struggled mightily. The win on Saturday night means Bruce Bochy's crew has things moving in the right direction again.

It took extra innings to do it, but the 6-4 win means that Sunday is a massive game for the Rangers. If they win, they not only split the series but move back into a tie for second place in the division and tied in the spot for the wild card.

Jacob deGrom takes the ball for the Texas Rangers in what is the biggest start of the season for him. Especially coming off his last outing, where he arguably had his worst outing of the season.

Texas Rangers get lower deadline grade than expected

While most Rangers fans are likely thrilled with the pitching haul the team added at the deadline, especially a pitcher to replace an up-and-down Kumar Rocker in the rotation, ESPN and CBS Sports both gave Chris Young's moves low B grades.

The apparent reason why they didn't get an A in these post-trade-deadline is that a team that has struggled on offense all year long didn't add any bats. Young hopes the offense can turn things around on its own. So far, he hasn't been correct in that assessment.

AL West continues shifting

While the Rangers lost the chance to really make a run by routing the Mariners in this weekend's series, the good news is that the Houston Astros are having issues as well. Texas is just 4.5 games out of first place, and the team that looked like it was making a move on Bochy's squad has only faded since the deadline.

The Angels made some serious moves at the deadline to grab relievers like Andrew Chafin, but they've lost 4 in a row and are 4.5 back from third place in the AL West. Lots of things can change in the next month, but it's looking like Los Angeles' big gamble isn't paying off.

Robert Garcia's struggles linked to injury?

In Saturday's game, new Texas reliever Merrill Kelly made his first start and, for the most part, did well, until he fell apart. After the team managed to push it to the 10th inning, it looked like they were going to win after all, until Robert Garcia fell apart for the second straight game, blowing his second straight save.

In the middle of that outing, Garcia also had to leave early with what was later reported as "mid-back" spasms. The question now is what to do with Garcia if he doesn't need to go on the IL. It might behoove the Texas Rangers to send him to the injury list just to allow him a chance to rest and reset.