The Rangers were swept by the visiting Guardians on Sunday, dropping their third straight to Cleveland, who clinched the AL Central title in the 10-4 drubbing of Texas.
While heads hung low in the home dugout, Cleveland went bananas in the visitors’ locker room. Cleveland Skipper Terry Francona was all for the celebration.
“I told them, ‘Hey, when this happens, you guys have earned the right to blow it out,'” he told MLB.com. “The way they had to work, the way they played to get here, they can yell all night. I’ll sit here and let them yell all night. I don’t care what time we get home.”
With just nine games left in the season, the Rangers didn’t have to worry about when they got home either, as their playoff aspirations have long since departed. Monday was a travel day for the team as they head to their last West Coast swing of the year, facing the Mariners and Angels for the rest of the week.
Rangers’ rookie Cole Ragans got the starting nod against Cleveland at Globe Life Field on Sunday, pitching five innings. He allowed four runs, three of them earned, on six hits with one base on balls and three strikeouts. He earned the loss on the day, dropping him to 0-3 on the year as he still seeks his first MLB win.
Texas bullpen mates John King and Joe Barlow both got knocked around the yard in their outing against the Guardians, combining for 2.2 innings in relief of Ragans. The pair got shelled for six more runs, though only four were earned, as the Rangers committed three errors in the field. Dennis Santana wrapped up the final 1.1 innings with a walk and a strikeout.
A sac-fly RBI for Adolis Garcia and Josh H. Smith kept the Rangers somewhat competitive in the contest and carved the deficit down to 4-2 after five innings. Cleveland notched two runs on the scoreboard in the sixth, matched by Texas’ two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but it was not enough to turn the tide. A bases-loaded homer by Cleveland in the eighth inning spelled doom for the home boys.
Nathanial Lowe went 1-for-4 with an RBI and watched his batting average dip to .304, which ties the Texas first basemen for fourth best in the AL and only .010 points behind Aaron Judge, who currently leads the batting-title chase.
Though Texas scored four, they had trouble at the plate (6-for-32) and struck out a total of 12 times while hitting 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 runners stranded on base.
The Rangers (65-87) head to Seattle (83-69) for three games starting on Tuesday with an 8:40 p.m. CDT start time.
