ARLINGTON, Texas — In a battle between teams that have had a similar go of it in April, and each with records hovering around .500, the Texas Rangers won a very hard-fought series over the National League’s Cincinnati Reds.
With the division lead-usurping Seattle Mariners taking their series against Arizona over the weekend, Texas still has some work to do to get back to the top of the AL West mountain. But they are on the right track by evening up their mark during the current homestand.
We’ve also now hit the juncture of the season where most of the regular lineup has surpassed the 100 at-bat mark, which makes for a good checkpoint to see how the bats are performing.
Ultimately, as proven in this series and throughout the month as a whole, the offense just hasn’t been on track like it should be on paper.
- Game 27: Cincinnati 1, Texas 2 (W: Leclerc, 2-2, L: Sims, 1-1, Sv: Yates, 4)
- Game 28: Cincinnati 8, Texas 4 (W: Greene, 1-2, L: Lorenzen, 2-1, Sv: Diaz, 6)
- Game 29: Cincinnati 3, Texas 4 (W: Dunning, 3-2, L: Abbott, 1-3, Sv: Yates, 5)
Offensive offense
The Reds’ pitching staff isn’t shouldn’t be scoffed at, but the Rangers didn’t do themselves any favors with what has been an alarmingly anemic offense. Texas couldn’t string together many hits in any of the three games and only drew one walk in the first two games of the series combined. That amounted to not a lot of traffic on the basepaths and not a lot of opportunities with runners in scoring position.
In the opener, Texas only had five chances to score a run with a hit and amassed a total of just 16 bases, despite banging out eight hits, but could not capitalize. They won the game anyhow on the backs of two solo homers, one by Evan Carter and one by Marcus Semien in a 2-1 nailbiter.
On Saturday, Cincy starter Hunter Greene had perfect game/no-hit stuff and Texas didn’t mount much of a rally until they were facing reliever Brent Suter in the ninth inning when they were already down 8-0. Texas scored four runs in that frame and that momentum carried over to the following day in the finale, as the Rangers strung together four straight two-out hits to plate four runs.
However, after that outburst, the bats produced no further runs to allow the Reds an opportunity to claw back into the game, were it not for a bullpen that shut the door to claim the series.
Memorable firsts
When it comes to baseball, moments you might deem as “memorable” don’t always happen the way you would dream them up as a kid. For Davis Wendzel, his first Major League home run came two days after his first Major League hit and those came after he had started his big league career 0-for-11. Both of Wendzel’s first happened in convincing fashion. His first hit was a single laced into left field against Seattle earlier in the week. His first home run, in the second game of the Reds series, was a line drive shot to left that started Texas’ ninth inning rally.
Wyatt Langford, however, has had a devil of a time connecting for his first home run. How it eventually happened was not how anyone would have expected for the power hitting prospect.
In Sunday’s finale Langford rocketed an opposite field shot to deep right field; a few feet to the left and it would have been a far more conventional homer. The drive that would have gone over the fence in six big league parks, including Cincinnati’s, bounced off the angled wall in front of the bullpen and ricocheted away from the Reds outfielders.
Langford was already halfway down the third base line by the time the relay throw got to the infield, marking the rookie’s first homer as one of the inside-the-park variety.
Neutralizing De La Cruz
While the Rangers got an electric play from their superstar in the making, the importance of the Texas’ ability to limit Elly De La Cruz’s time on the basepaths shouldn’t be understated.
Preventing Cincinnati’s exciting tablesetter from running wild was a key to them taking two of three from the Reds. The shortstop phenom got on base with two walks in the opener and scored once before registering a hit and scoring a run in the finale. Prior to that, when De La Cruz got on base, he scored. The last time the tall shortstop got on base and didn’t score a run in a game was a week and a half ago.
The fleet-footed De La Cruz stole three bases during the three-game series – to up his league-leading total to 18 on the year – but he reached base only three times total, which allowed Texas to avoid more trouble. The Rangers will have to neutralize another rising shortstop when the Washington Nationals bring C.J. Abrams to Arlington on Tuesday.
Bullpen flexibility
When the Reds came to town Friday, certain flashbacks took place, as memories of last year’s series in Cincinnati -- where Texas was swept in a series in which the bullpen coughed up leads in each game -- came rushing back. That was the series where the bullpen took a swan dive into being problematic for the remainder of the summer.
This year, manager Bruce Bochy seems to have a much better assortment of arms to select from. From the return of Josh Sborz to the emergence of Jake Latz as a setup man and the veteran presences of David Robertson and Kirby Yates in high leverage situations, Bochy now has at least five high-leverage arms to utilize in close games and arms like Jose Ureña and Cole Winn have been pleasant surprises in long relief, as well.
In the finale, Bochy even opted to go to his bullpen despite starter Dane Dunning throwing just 69 pitches through 5 ⅓ innings in a start where he took a perfect game into the fifth inning. That trust ultimately led to another one-run win.
Dangerous Dane Dunning
Dunning had an incredibly efficient bounce back start on Sunday. With a greatly varied arsenal of pitches, not even including his new forkball, Dunning mowed through the Reds’ lineup, allowing just three hits with no walks and a season-high ten strikeouts. He maintained a perfect game through four innings before a one-out single by Jonathan India in the top of the fifth.
Dunning allowed just one earned run, while an inherited run scored when Sborz entered the game. With a fresh bullpen needing some work (Ureña had pitched three innings the night before to clear the deck) and an off day on Monday, Dunning was pulled from his outing at just 69 pitches as he raised his strikeouts per nine innings rate to a career high 10.7.
Fresh off the series win, Texas next welcomes the National League’s Washington Nationals to town on Tuesday. Washington is currently on a three-game winning streak in the middle of their road trip. For the Rangers, getting a winning streak of their own going should be the goal as they continue to search for more consistency throughout the lineup.
Do you think the Rangers will hit their stride as we approach the month of May? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.