The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Houston Astros scored six runs.
Well that’s not a game you’d want to lose. The Rangers came out of the gate sloppy and kind of just remained that way all evening. That’s pretty surprising considering Texas has been arguably the best defensive team in baseball this season my several metrics. Perhaps it’s a side effect of basically playing what amounts to intense, chess match playoff baseball early for weeks now.
Despite pitching and defense being their winning
aspect, just a couple of batters into the bottom of the first and an errant throw from Jack Leiter had the Rangers down a couple of runs. From there Texas kind of did that thing they’ve been doing all month where they make you think that they maybe won’t even score at all before coming through with a big inning.
After Leiter settled down and kept the game close, the Rangers did eventually break through with a three-run fifth inning to take the lead. With dreams of sipping champagne from the Silver Boot, nothing went right for the Rangers after that point.
Leiter (6.2 IP, 6 R, 3 ER, 1BB, 4 K) allowed a two-out, 0-2 pitch two-run home run to a guy with 11 career big league plate appearances after he had entered the game to replace an injured Yordan Alvarez. You could kind of see it coming. The cosmic entity that is baseball loves its little storybook moments. That home run came after another error and a couple of ground balls that better throws could have ended the inning via a couple of double play attempts.
The Rangers had a rally going in the seventh looking to tie the game but with the bench basically emptied, and facing the prospect of needing a hit from Joc Pederson against a left-hander, Jonah Heim was waved home from second base on a Wyatt Langford single to left field. Considering this is former Minute Maid Park, where left fielders basically can stand on the infield dirt, you can guess by how much Heim was out at home.
From there, feeding on our misery the Astros tacked on a few insurance runs and the Rangers have put themselves in a position of needing a couple in a row here to take the series and stay in the hunt.
Player of the Game: Josh Jung had a couple of hits, breaking through the Bruce Bochy doghouse by sending one to the Crawford Boxes to tie the game 2-2 in the fifth in a moment that seemed like it might help propel the Rangers to victory. Pretty much everything after that didn’t work out for Texas, however.
Up Next: The Rangers and Astros are back at it tomorrow night with Texas again trying to secure the Silver Boot. RHP Merrill Kelly will make the start for the Rangers opposite an Astros hurler to be named.
The Tuesday evening first pitch from Daikin Park is set for 7:10 pm CT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.
