A race to see which team will finish the season with the second-worst record in the American League West is almost complete as fourth Texas (66-90) fell to the third place Los Angeles (71-86) in a 4-1 affair Friday night in Anaheim.
The two teams have been within five games of one another for most of the season. Both have struggled and slid from the second and third place in the West to the third and fourth slots as the season wore on.
Houston ran away with the AL West crown, and Seattle held the second-place post most of the second half and are back on their way to the postseason for the first time since 2001.
Texas and Los Angeles each have five games remaining, including tonight’s (Saturday, October 1) game featuring Rangers Rookie Cole Ragans (0-3, 5.40) on the hill for Texas and Jose Suarez getting the starting nod for the Angels.
Should the Angels win on Saturday night, they would clinch third place in the West.
Should Texas win tonight, the best the team could do is a tie with the Angels for third place in the division. For the tie to happen, the Rangers would need to win out — including the final three games of the year against the Yankees in Arlington next week. The Angels would also have to lose their remaining contests for the tie.
Angel rookie Reid Detmers held the Rangers to a lone run while scatting four hits in his six innings of work. The lefty struck out nine on the night and pushed his record to 7-6 on the season with the win.
“There’s a high ceiling, there’s leadership,” Angel Manager Phil Nevin told MLB.com of his rookie pitcher. “You can see him being the anchor of a rotation and leading guys and making them better. It’s hard to say about somebody that’s 23 years old and two years out of college, but those are the types of guys you win with.”
Texas righty Glen Otto got the start for the Rangers and pitched six innings allowing three runs on eight hits (two of them home runs) on his way to a 10th loss of the year against six wins.
The Texas bats were limited to five hits by Angel’s pitchers. Adolis Garcia’s RBI doubled in the fifth inning for the night’s only run as the Rangers batted just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
