Rangers’ Offense Still Stuck in a Costly Time Loop
It feels like the Texas Rangers are living the same frustrating night over and over again, and Tuesday’s loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks was yet another rerun. On the surface, it looked like a tight, winnable game — a 3-2 defeat decided by a single home run in the ninth. But if you’ve been watching this team all season, you know the real story runs deeper than one swing of the bat.
The go-ahead homer came off Danny Coulombe, the Rangers’ recently acquired reliever who had been flawless since joining the team at the Trade Deadline. In fact, it was the first run he had allowed with Texas and the first homer he’d surrendered all year. Still, manager Bruce Bochy wasn’t pointing fingers at his bullpen. Instead, he made it clear where the problem lay — the bats simply didn’t show up.
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For much of the night, Texas seemed in control. They grabbed a one-run lead in the third inning and held it until the seventh. That’s when a sudden burst of uncharacteristic defensive miscues cracked things open. Robert Garcia misplayed a comebacker, then sent a wild, behind-the-back toss sailing into the photographers’ well. Moments later, Josh Jung bobbled a sacrifice bunt. The Diamondbacks tied it without hitting a ball out of the infield. And while the Rangers still lead MLB in defensive runs saved, even elite defense can falter when the pressure is relentless.
The real issue — and the one Bochy hammered home — was the complete lack of offensive punch. Texas managed just four hits all night. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven on base. After Wyatt Langford’s walks in the third and sixth innings, the Rangers didn’t put another man on until it was too late. As Bochy bluntly put it, “We were just bad. We’re better than this.”
It’s not a new problem. Offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker was let go back in May in an effort to shake things up. July showed signs of life, with the team posting a much-improved batting line, but the front office chose not to add any hitters at the deadline. Instead, they doubled down on pitching depth. That gamble hasn’t paid off yet, because without run support, even strong pitching performances end in losses.
Bochy has tried everything — shuffling the lineup, sending players down and calling them back up, rotating prospects in and out. The players know what’s at stake, especially with the Wild Card race tightening. As Marcus Semien put it, every loss now feels heavier, every mistake magnified. And until the Rangers find a way to break free from this offensive time loop, their razor-thin margin for error will keep cutting them down.
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