Texas Rangers aim to put setbacks behind them against Oakland
The Texas Rangers are no longer parked with a playoff spot -- but there’s still time in the season to recover. That effort begins against the Oakland Athletics.
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers team that will take the field this weekend looks like a mere shell of the squad that played the Oakland Athletics a month ago at the Coliseum in Oakland.
It was the last game of that series that broke the Rangers’ eight-game winning streak to open the month of August, and while they won that series and two more after that, the strategies that played out in that game impacted the way the rest of the month would go. With Josh Jung two days removed from being taken out with a broken thumb, Jonah Heim out with a wrist injury, and Corey Seager getting a rest day after going strong in his return from the injured list, the Rangers’ offense produced just four hits against the league’s worst team, while Jordan Montgomery’s quality start went for naught in a 2-0 loss.
There was every chance for Texas to sweep that series, but the production wasn’t there -- only the warning signs of where things would end up now.
That game was followed with a weekend series across the bridge in San Francisco, where Texas again took the first two games of the series and again put up a paltry offensive showing in the finale, scoring just two runs -- none before the 9th inning -- before then co-closer Will Smith gave up a walk-off, 2-run homer with one out remaining in extra innings.
The series that followed that came in rinse-and-repeat fashion against the Los Angeles Angels, as Texas would dominate the first two games and then fall flat in the finale –-- the team was no-hit by Reid Detmers into the 8th inning -- to kick off an eight-game losing streak and a slide that is quickly defining their season, despite four months of above expectations play.
The Rangers only won four games in the ensuing weeks before faltering hardest against the Houston Astros in a divisional showdown where they were embarrassed while getting outscored 39-10.
Texas now finds themselves scrambling to break the funk and get themselves back into the playoff picture, having fallen out of a postseason spot altogether.
While a series against the Athletics in Arlington seems, on paper, to be just what Texas needs to wash the bad taste of the last months’ worth of games out of their mouths, the A’s aren’t rolling over and conceding baseball games.
If the Rangers want October, they’ll have to earn it.
Oakland down the stretch
Oakland appears to be relishing its role of spoiler in the last month of the season. Of all the underdogs and non-contenders in the American League, the Athletics might be doing the most to get their young players some winning experiences. They’ve swept the Angels, split a series with the White Sox and won a series against the Royals.
Sure, they’ve been swept and lost a series during that time frame too, but they’ve already surpassed the win total that could have made them one of the historically worst teams in league history if they’d continued to lose at the rate that they were winning (or, more aptly, losing) earlier in the year.
The A’s have a team of young and interesting players that all fit the mold of undersung that Oakland fans adore: Esteury Ruiz, who’s aiming to become the second player to reach 60 steals this season; Zack Gelof, who powered the Athletics to the one win in the last series against Texas, took home AL Rookie of the Month honors for August; and Lawrence Butler, who jumped from High-A ball this year, has been mashing home runs.
Zack Gelof: .286 AVG, .912 OPS, 7 HR, 15 RBI
James Outman: .277 AVG, .890 OPS, 5 HR, 15 RBIYour AL and NL Rookies of the Month for August! pic.twitter.com/FerYPbfaVZ
— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2023
Instead of merely playing things through to finish a dreadful season, Oakland is taking the opportunity to let its next generation of talent -- whether they play in Oakland or not -- shine and enjoy the experience of dueling good clubs.
In a series against the Rangers, it could be a case of a team with fresh legs and nothing to lose playing against a team that looks to be on its last legs and limping down the stretch.
The matchups
Game 140: 7:05 PM CT - RHP Paul Blackburn (4-4, 3.81 ERA) vs. LHP Jordan Montgomery (8-10, 3.46 ERA)
Game 141: 6:05 PM CT - TBD vs. RHP Jon Gray (8-7, 3.85 ERA)
Game 142: 1:35 PM CT - RHP Luis Medina (3-8, 5.46 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Heaney (9-6, 4.22 ERA)
Jordan Montgomery opens the series for Texas, coming off his worst start since joining the Rangers. Against Minnesota last weekend, the lefty threw only 3 ⅔ innings and surrendered six runs on seven hits. His last time against Oakland, his second appearance with the Rangers, Montgomery was a hard-luck loser in the finale where Texas was shutout. Opposing him will be veteran righty Paul Blackburn. Blackburn, who got a late start to the season after tearing a fingernail, has been as good a pitcher as Oakland could have hoped for in his 16 starts. He had a brilliant August, pitching to a 2.35 ERA over five starts while holding opponents to just a .250 average against him.
While nothing is decided for the middle game starter for Oakland, it would be Dallas-native Kyle Muller’s turn in the rotation. Muller has not been pitching deep into games, going no more than five innings in every start this year except two. He’s only gone 11 ⅓ innings in his last three starts, including a four inning performance against Seattle his last time out where he took the loss as he gave up six runs on nine hits. For Texas, Jon Gray will take the hill. Gray has been looking for consistency since the All-Star break, although he has had decent outings his last two times out. Against Minnesota, in the one game Texas won in that series, Gray went five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits, walking four but striking out eight.
The finale will see Oakland’s Luis Medina in his second start since returning from the injured list with a blister. His first start back was against the Blue Jays and he gave up three runs in 4 ⅔ innings, throwing only 70 pitches. One would expect him to be able to go a little deeper into the game this time around, or at least be on a slightly higher pitch limit. The last time Medina faced Texas was in the second series between the two teams back in early May, and the Rangers tagged him for three runs in six innings of work in a 4-0 win for Texas.
Andrew Heaney closes things out in this series for the Rangers, having been the first pitching victim of the Astros in the dubious history-making series in Arlington. Heaney incidentally was the most effective of the three starters that the Astros faced, allowing just three runs before being knocked out after 4 ⅔ innings. Heaney’s efficiency is the biggest thing to watch for, as it always seems to be a race to see how many innings he can complete before he is lifted at around 85 pitches.
Texas will also be without their cleanup hitter and All-Star right fielder Adolis Garcia in this series and for the foreseeable future. After an attempt to rob a home run in the finale of the Houston series, Garcia strained his patellar tendon, likely putting him out for the rest of the regular season.
The Rangers are calling up No. 1 prospect Evan Carter to debut on Friday against Oakland.
In Double-A Frisco (97 games): .284/.411/.451
— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) September 7, 2023
In Triple-A Round Rock (8 games): .353/.436/.382
With Garcia down, the team is calling up their No. 1 prospect, outfielder Evan Carter. Carter is in a high-pressure spot, debuting for a team that is clinging to postseason hopes by a thread, which gives him a chance to make an immediate impact.
The 21-year old, who is ranked as MLB’s No. 8 top prospect, held a .284/.411/.451 slash line at Double-A Frisco this season before playing in just eight games for the Round Rock Express, racking up twelve hits and scoring eight runs in his short time there.
Carter looks to inject some measure of life into a struggling offensive lineup. But he shouldn’t be counted on to be a savior. The Rangers will have to come together and save themselves and that starts with an opportunity against a team from Oakland that is only playing to make things difficult for the teams ahead of them.
Do you think the Rangers will earn some wins against Oakland? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter at @FisherWritesMLB.
