The Texas Rangers scored a run but the Arizona Diamondbacks scored nine runs.
It’s pretty ironic that in the span of about an hour, the 2026 Texas Rangers were laid to rest at Chase Field.
I’ve watched nearly 150 games of this baseball team this season and have written about how a moment or sequence was “like the entire season in a nutshell” so often that I’m pretty sure I’ve developed a peanut allergy.
How about we try this sequence on for size:
In a 0-0 game in the top of the fifth, Skip Schumaker
offered up a free out by asking Nicky Lopez to bunt before the Rangers scored the first run of the game off last season’s failed savior Merritt Kelly only to see the middle of the order leave the bases loaded and viciously squeeze all the air out of the balloon despite the fresh lead.
In the bottom of the inning, MacKenzie Gore, whose starts have bled together at such a predictable cadence that it has begun to feel like he has given up four runs in some random inning every other day for these last six months, allowed a double, walk, ground-rule double, and then go-ahead two-run double without collecting an out.
Schumaker finally saw enough and brought in Jakob Junis, who you may recall allowed four runs without registering an out in yesterday’s tragedy. Junis immediately allowed the fourth run to score.
Now down 4-1, if you’re wondering if Texas showed some fight or pride after a demoralizing but familiar turn of events, the answer is a resounding no. Instead, they saw nine pitches and they went for nine strikes for an immaculate inning with each strikeout coming via a swing and miss each more pathetic than the last.
In the bottom of the inning, the Diamondbacks scored five more runs.
Pass the Planters.
Player of the Game: Josh Sborz.
Up Next: The Rangers will be on the field for a baseball game tomorrow in Arizona. Or maybe it will be a wake. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm CDT.
