The Texas bullpen again blew a late-inning opportunity, this time on Thursday, allowing five runs in the final two innings in a 6-5 loss to Seattle after Rangers ace and All-Star Martin Perez tossed five innings of one-run baseball.
“We’ve asked a lot of them,” Rangers’ manager Woodward said of his relief staff. “We put our best arms against [Mariners starting pitcher Marco Gonzalez], and we just didn’t make enough pitches to get it done. You know, we gotta try to put them in the best position possible, trying not to over-expose them.”
Perez threw 102 pitches in the game (59 for strikes) and exited before the sixth inning after allowing one run on three hits, giving up four walks, and striking out five. The run allowed by Perez was an inside-the-park home run.
The Rangers got cooking in their half of the first inning as the first four batters of the contest made their way onboard.
A leadoff walk by Marcus Semien was followed by an RBI double from Corey Seager, who found out before the contest he had been named to the AL All-Star Team and will compete in the Homerun Derby on Monday.
Seager’s double gave Texas a 1-0 lead.
Adolis Garcia next hit a single ahead of Jonah Heim’s 10th double of the season, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead as Seager scored on the hit.
Nathaniel Lowe hit into a fielder’s choice to score Garcia for a 3-0 lead before a baserunning blunder ended the inning.
Leody Taveras singled to left to push Heim to third, bringing Kole Calhoun to the plate. Calhoun would go down in three straight strikes. Strike three saw Taveras attempt to steal second, but he was thrown out on a strike-’em-out throw-’em-out double play to end the first inning.
Woodward was happy about his team’s energy in the first inning but admitted the lead could have been much bigger if not for the double-play to end the frame.
“We put a ton of pressure early; we could have blown them out,” Woodard said. “Honestly, you know, a little baserunning mistake there. Leody didn’t get a great jump, he was obviously super accountable, and we talked about it, but, you know, we kind of let Gonzalez off the hook a little bit in some of those early innings. He’s a workhorse. He’s going to compete against us. … You know, we just scratch a couple more runs across there. It’s like a 7-to-1 game or an 8-1 game.”
After Perez yielded the fourth-inning home run, Texas countered with a fifth-inning run after Taveras knocked in Heim, who had doubled to left two batters prior. Texas regained its cushion with a 5-1 lead.
Garrett Richards was first out of the bullpen after Perez departed, and the 34-year-old lefty allowed two earned runs on two hits, walking none and fanning two in 1.1 innings of work. Texas still held a 5-3 lead when Richards departed the contest.
Matt Moore earned his fourth hold of the season after tossing .2 innings in which he allowed a hit and a walk while striking out one batter.
Dennis Santana — who got rocked in his last outing against the A’s — was again knocked around by the Mariners, allowing three hits, three runs, and striking out one in just .1 innings pitched.
Santana was relieved by Brock Burke, who allowed two of the runners he inherited from Santana to score in the eighth inning, blowing the Ranger’s lead and earning his second blown save of the season.
“Tough loss. Obviously, it’s a gut punch,” Woodward said.
Seattle’s bullpen fared much better, combining to toss three innings of scoreless baseball in which they allowed just two base runners (a hit and a walk) to close the contest.
The loss drops Texas to five games under .500 (41-46), 16.5 games behind first-place Houston in the AL West, and 5.5 behind Seattle, who boasts a record of 48-42 on the season and has won 11 in a row.
The Rangers will look to get even in the series against the Mariners on Friday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, starting at 7:05 CDT. Probable pitchers for the contest are Robbie Ray (7-6, 3.51) for Seattle and Matt Bush (2-1, 3.64) for the Rangers.
The first 15,000 guests in attendance at the game will receive a Marcus Semien Bobblehead.
