SEATTLE — The single-inning offensive attack might have worked for the Rangers in Los Angeles, but it ran out of gas in the Pacific Northwest, in a 3-2 loss to the division-leading Mariners.
The Rangers plated two runs in the top of the first inning against Luis Castillo, with Nathaniel Lowe roping a 106.7 mph liner off the wall in center for an RBI double and rookie Wyatt Langford knocking Lowe home with an even harder-hit — 109.8 mph — RBI single.
Then the well dried up.
“After that, we just didn’t get much going at all,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.
Texas managed just two hits in the final eight innings, with Castillo silencing the Rangers through the sixth and a trio of relievers combining to walk the one-run tightrope.
It was the second straight night the Rangers scored two runs in the first inning but struggled after.
Thursday in their series finale against the Dodgers, they were able to add one more run of insurance in the third. Friday, there would be no such luck.
Four games into their two-city West Coast swing, and the defending World Series champs have scored one run after the third inning.
Since June 1, the Rangers are batting .187 in the seventh inning or later (fifth-worst in MLB) with nine RBIs (third-worst).
The bottom of the Texas order had an especially tough time, with the last four slots in the lineup combining to go 0-for-13 with a walk. As a team, the Rangers struck out 11 times, their first time crossing into double-digits since June 3.
“You’re facing a great pitching staff,” Bochy said. “No one is surprised this was a close game, a low-scoring game. Still, a lot of strikeouts tonight.”
Texas fell to 9-7 in one-run contests. That’s not terrible by any stretch, but it’s a far cry from Seattle’s 17-7 record in such games — and just about covers the 6 1/2-game gap the Rangers find themselves in behind the Mariners.
In such games, with the bats quiet, the little things become amplified. Friday, that’s just what happened.
It started as soon as the Rangers took the lead. Andrew Heaney needed just seven pitches to get the first two outs in the bottom of the first, before finding himself in a battle with Julio Rodríguez and walking him on a fastball well inside.
“The two-out walk drives me crazy,” Heaney said. “We have a two-run lead, I’m basically just trying to throw a middle-middle heater. If he hits it off the scoreboard then we’re still winning 2-1. That’s just bad pitching right there on my part.”
Three pitches later, and former Ranger Mitch Garver made it hurt, sending a slider just over the wall to tie the game.
In the fourth, the Rangers caught the short end of another stick, when Victor Robles laid a bunt down the first-base line. Heaney fielded it but hesitated to throw to first with Robles running on the inside of the baseline. Replays showed the Robles was on the grass, but home-plate umpire Vic Carapazza ruled that he hadn’t interfered with the play — the second necessity to warrant an out — and ejected Bochy when the Texas skipper argued.
“On a bunt down the first-base line, yeah, you’re affecting the throw in two different ways,” said Bochy, who tied Ron Gardenhire for seventh all-time in MLB history with his 84th career ejection. “One, you’re not getting a clear path for the pitcher throwing it; now he’s got to go wide. The first baseman can’t stretch toward the throw, because the runner’s in the grass.”
That play ended up not affecting the game, aside from making Heaney throw more pitches. He finished with three runs allowed on six hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings, and spent the rest of his outing after the first waiting for more support.
It never came. In the sixth, Adolis García roped a double — Texas’ first hit since the first — but ran the Rangers out of the rally on a two-out grounder to third base when Dylan Moore bobbled the ball. Moore didn’t recover in time to throw to first, but when looked up with the ball, García was 60 feet off second.
In the ninth, Langford hit his second double — this one 109.9 mph off the bat — but the Rangers once again couldn’t cash in.
“We had a couple chances there at the end,” Bochy said. “We were just missing that one more hit there.”
