The Rangers could not get the bats going when it counted on Thursday, batting 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Texas dropped the final game of a quad-series 3-1 to Tampa Bay.
“If we keep getting traffic out there and keep putting ourselves in situations like that, we’ll eventually cash it in,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said of the team’s lack of runs in the contest.
The defeat drops Texas to 24-26 for the season, and Taylor Hearn, who got the starting nod for the Rangers, saw his record drop to 3-4 on the season after the loss. Hearn pitched four innings in the loss, allowing six hits and three earned runs while walking four and fanning three.
Woodard said Hearn was under the weather before the game but gutted it out and made a start.
“Taylor did a good job of just getting through it,” Woodward said. “He didn’t feel great today, and now he’s not gonna make any excuses, but you know he’s a little bit under the weather and just kind of had to battle through that and obviously threw a ton of pitches in four innings, but you know, kept us in the game and the other guys came in and did their job.”
The Rangers sent Garrett Richards, Brock Burke, and Brett Martin to the hill in relief for Hearn, and the trio combined to pitch five innings, allowing just three hits, no runs, walking three, and striking out four in the loss.
At the dish, Jonah Heim and Adolis Garcia both went 2-for-4 and were the only hitters to earn two hits in the contest, raising their batting averages to .263 and .232, respectively.
The lone run of the game for Texas came in the bottom of the sixth, trailing the Rays 3-0. Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien clobbered a 79.7 mph Corey Kluber curveball and launched it into the left-field bleachers for his second homer of the season. Semien is batting .194 on the year.
Kluber earned the win for Tampa, running his record to 2-0 on the season after allowing the lone run on four hits while walking none and fanning four.
The win for Tampa earned the AL East team a 2-2 split against Texas.
Next for the Rangers is a three-game set with AL West rivals Seattle at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The Mariners come into the contest with a record of 22-29, 2.5 games behind Texas for fourth place. The Rangers sit two games behind the second-place Angels and 8.5 games behind front-running Houston.
Probable pitchers for the June 3 contest are Logan Gilbert (5-2, 2.29) for the Mariners and Dane Dunning for the Rangers (1-3, 4.31.)
June 3 is also Marcus Semien Replica Red Jersey T-shirt night, and the shirts will be given to the first 15,000 through the gates at the ballpark.