ARLINGTON -- The Texas Rangers staggered into Sunday's series finale vs. the Philadelphia Phillies after three games in a five-day span against a trio of left-handed starting pitchers with favorable odds to win the Cy Young award in their respective leagues.
Their reprieve was one of baseball's premier right-handers.
The difference in outcome -- and the way they arrived to it -- was negligible at best. Elite pitchers are impossible to escape, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy cautioned, and offered the reminder that good teams are able to produce runs nonetheless.
"If we think we are who we are," Bochy said, "then we find a way to get those runs."
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The Rangers, through 119 games, are a barely-over-.500 team that's on the outside of the postseason after a series loss vs. the Philadelphia Phillies at Globe Life Field which featured three identical losses. Sunday's 4-2 loss vs. All-Star right-hander Zack Wheeler, Saturday's 3-2 loss vs. left-hander Jesús Luzardo and Friday's 9-1 loss vs. Cy Young award candidate Cristopher Sanchez were each marred by the same inability to build on quick starts.
"I think it's kind of a lull right now," leadoff hitter Josh Smith said Sunday after an 0 for 5 day. "We've faced some pretty good pitching, but, we've got to do a better job and win those games."
The Rangers have scored the fewest runs in baseball against teams with an above-.500 record this season and, against all pitchers they've faced with a 3.00 ERA or better, have not once scored more than four runs. Sunday's loss included that continuation of a troubling trend where early offense is followed by zeroes. Bochy officially categorized it as a "funk" Sunday afternoon.
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It's one thing to recognize it.
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It's another to escape it.
"We changed the lineup today," Bochy said when asked how, exactly, Texas can break the habit. "We mixed it up, moved guys around a little bit, you try that."
The attempt was not in vain. The Rangers bumped right fielder Adolis García out of the four-hole and replaced him with designated hitter Joc Pederson. A first-inning two-run home run vs. Wheeler, Pederson's second this homestand, gave the Rangers an early lead.
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The issue continued to lie in the eight innings that followed. The Rangers were shutout in the second-through-ninth innings Sunday afternoon and went 6 for 25 and advanced just one runner to second base after Pederson's home run.
They scored four runs in the three combined first innings of this series and scored just once -- on a home run from shortstop Corey Seager in the eighth inning of Saturday's loss -- in the other 24 frames. Seager would have hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the fifth inning Sunday had Philadelphia center fielder Harrison Bader not leapt and caught the ball before it landed in the Texas bullpen.
Teams on average have a .705 OPS when they face pitchers the first time through a batting order and it increases to .735 and .754 by the second and third trips through. That's a 49 percentage point improvement from the first to the third. The Rangers, who have a .666 OPS against pitchers the first time through the order, do not make a comparable jump when the face starters for a second and third time.
"It's a pretty simple game," Bochy said. "You've got to get a big hit when you do get guys on base. That's been missing."
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Pitching and defense, as it has been all season, was not. Left-hander Patrick Corbin allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings and was bailed out in the second inning by a sliding catch from center fielder Wyatt Langford (which he ran 75 feet into right field to snag) and a circus catch one at bat later from García on a shallow pop fly.
It's a reminder of the elite play that Texas has been unable to capitalize on this year. The Rangers' 3.28 ERA and .991 fielding percentage both lead the league. Only three teams have led baseball in both categories this century; each made the postseason and two, the 2001 Seattle Mariners and 2018 Houston Astros, advanced to the championship series.
The Rangers are two-and-a-half games back of the last Wild Card berth and six-and-a-half games back of the American League West lead with 43 games left to play. They have a 21.9% chance to make the playoffs according to FanGraphs.
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"There's a bunch of games left," Corbin said. "We've got to start winning some of them."
Related StoriesRead MoreTexas Rangers sign former All-Star catcher to minor league dealThe signing helps shore up a lack of catcher depth in the Texas system.Watch: Adolis García comes down with wild circus catch in Rangers-Phillies series finaleGarcía's stunning grab was one of multiple impressive defensive plays from the Rangers on Sunday.
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