The Texas Rangers lost a series 2-1 to the San Francisco Giants as the team’s offense stalled in the two losses, giving the Rangers their second straight series loss and a record of just 31-34.
The Rangers lost the first two games of the series against the Giants and scored just three runs combined, but a dominant scoring game from the team helped guide them to a 7-2 victory in the final game of the series on Sunday.
Texas managed to score three runs and steal three bases during the first inning alone, which was the most stolen bases in an inning by the franchise since June 7, 2022, in a game against the Cleveland Guardians, per MLB.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the game that stealing bases has been something the team has “talked about” as a way to help them stay aggressive on offense, adding that they “need to be a little bit more aggressive” when presented with the opportunity.
“We met a couple [of] times about it to see if we can push it a little bit. When your offense is not quite what you’re used to, sometimes you have to push a little bit, and that’s why we’ve been pushing them. It’s good to see them go for that today,” he added, per MLB.
“I think when you have the speed that we have, especially if you look at the back end of the order with [Wyatt] Langford, [Ezequiel] Duran, [Travis] Jankowski, and Leo [Taveras], they need to be running more.”
Remaining aggressive will be important as the Rangers look to bounce back from two consecutive series losses to the Detroit Tigers and Giants.
The four losses in those two series produced just five total runs, while the two wins came with 16 combined runs.
During the season, the Rangers have produced an average of 6.7 runs in the 31 games they have won while scoring just 2.2 runs on average in the 34 losses.
This series loss puts the Rangers five games behind the Seattle Mariners for first place in the American League West Division, but they remain just three games behind the Minnesota Twins for a wild card spot in the playoffs.
The Rangers will now look ahead to a three-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, which begins on Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. CST.
Los Angeles has been one of the best teams in MLB through its first 67 games, finishing with the second-best record in the National League at 41-26.
