ARLINGTON, Texas — After winning two out of three against the Los Angeles Angels last week, the Texas Rangers were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend, a crucial time to suffer a trio of losses.
On Friday night, the Rangers nearly made a valiant comeback by scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to 9-8, but that’s how it would end. On Saturday, Dane Dunning and Martin Pérez combined to give up six runs, while the Brewers held the Rangers to one run.
The Rangers called upon Max Scherzer to stop the bleeding on Sunday and prevent the sweep, but he only lasted three and two third innings and gave up three runs which was enough for the Rangers to lose their fourth straight game.
Brice Paterik of the Locked On Rangers podcast discussed the weekend series on the latest episode of his show, saying, “This was just an awful, very bad, no good, very terrible weekend for your Texas Rangers.”
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Paterik added that it was the first time the Rangers had been swept at home all season. But it wasn’t the first time they had been swept in a series, and it was the second time a National League Central team did the honors. Earlier this season, the Cincinnati Reds swept the Rangers in three games.
After Sunday's loss, rangers manager Bruce Bochy said, “It was really [uncharacteristic] the whole series for us. But you give them credit; they really grinded out at-bats and laid off some tough pitches. That’s kind of who we are, and they had a good series doing that on us. We just couldn't get this offense going. We're in a bit of a funk right now.”
A big problem for the Rangers was their performance with runners in scoring position and the offense as a whole. On Sunday, they were 0-7 and left ten on base. On Saturday, they didn’t get much of a chance to score. They were only 0-2 with runners in scoring position and only mustered four hits in nine innings.
Luckily for them, the second-place Houston Astros were also swept this weekend, so the Rangers kept their two-and-a-half-game lead in the division. Not so lucky for them? The surging Seattle Mariners, who swept Houston, have won six in a row and are now only three games back in the division race.
It looks like the AL West could be a lot more interesting down the stretch.
As for the Rangers, they begin a nine-game road trip that starts in Arizona, follows up in Minnesota, and ends in New York with a four-game set against the Mets. This trip will show everyone if the Rangers can win the division title. If they falter, Houston or Seattle could leapfrog into the lead and force the Rangers into a Wild Card spot.
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