Texas Rangers News: Hit streak ends, failure to sweep, mental reset needed

The Texas Rangers had a huge opportunity to get out of Pittsburgh back to an even .500 this season but a tale as old as time reared it's ugly head and Texas heads to Baltimore still searching for answers.

At 38-40 and both the Astros and Mariners getting wins on Sunday, Texas sits third in the AL West, trailing Seattle by two games and first place Houston by seven games.

Marcus Semien's hit streak comes to an end this weekend in Pittsburgh

Rangers' fans have experienced a miraculous turnaround when it comes to their veteran infielder in the month of June. However, after 12 straight games recording a hit, the streak came to an end after an 0-for-2 day on Saturday.

It's not the end of the world. Semien is still hitting .319 in the month of June with a .968 OPS, three home runs and 11 runs batted in through 19 games. This is a massive turnaround from the .198 and .207 average in the months of April and May.

Semien has still managed to be productive even without a hit in Saturday or Sunday's games, drawing a walk in each game and driving in a run on Saturday via a sacrifice fly.

Rangers' failure to sweep Pittsburgh littered with familiar foe

This team continues to not score with runners in scoring position or how Bruce Bochy likes to put it, they just couldn't get "the big hit."

It's been a constant struggle for Texas all season long. Entering Sunday's finale in Pittsburgh, the Rangers have been hitting .223 with runners in scoring position and on Sunday afternoon Texas went 2-for-12 in RISP situations, leaving six runners on base.

Bochy told Dallas Morning News' reporter Shawn McFarland, “The Pirates did it in one inning when they put up five. That’s what it takes to win a ballgame.”

Josh Jung needs an Adolis Garcia type benching

It worked with Adolis Garcia, who's to say it won't be successful with the Rangers young third baseman?

While guys like Garcia, Marcus Semien and Josh Smith are having a tremendous month, Jung is on the opposite side, hitting .184 in his last 30 games with no homers, just 12 RBIs and a whopping 35 strikeouts.

Back on May 30, Bochy decided to give Adolis the series off against the Cardinals after a rough three games against Toronto when he went 1-for-9 and 5 strikeouts. He returned to the lineup on June 3 and in the month of June he is hitting .306 with two homers and has become a lot more selective at the plate. This is exactly what Jung needs. A rest that hopefully turns into a reset.