Rangers lose hold on American League West division lead due to recent slide. (AP Photo/Andy King)A 1-4 start to it's eight game road trip has the Texas Rangers (26-24) looking up at the Oakland Athletics in the A.L. West. Also keep in mind that the Rangers have lost six of their past seven games overall, and this three game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins (30-20) has revealed that this team may not be ready to contend just yet.
"We just haven't really clicked on all cylinders yet," said Ian Kinsler, who went 2 for 12 at the plate in the series. "We're getting good pitching but we're not scoring runs. When we're scoring runs we're not pitching well. We just need to get both those things on the same page and I think we'll start rolling."
That was certainly the case in this weekend series against the Twins as the Rangers had trouble both scoring runs and keeping their opponent off the bases. For the most part the Rangers' pitching woes continued to rear it's ugly head.
After Colby Lewis pitched a gem in a loss on Friday night, going six innings and allowing two runs on five hits in a 2-1 Texas loss, the proverbial crap hit the fan for Rangers' starters. Saturday starter C.J. Wilson had given up only two runs in the first six innings before Twins' batters unloaded on him to the tune of a six-run seventh inning that buried the Rangers with a 8-3 final score. Sunday night, a nationally televised game, saw the Twins jump out to a 3-0 lead as starter Derek Holland left the game due to a shoulder injury after giving up three runs on three walks and three hits, as he didn't record a single out in the second inning. Both starters (Wilson and Holland) combined to give up eight runs on seven hits in only six innings combined.
"[Saturday] is more frustrating because I had control of the game," said Wilson, who has given up 17 runs in his last 16 innings pitched. "The team gave me the lead and I just couldn't hold it. That's your only job as a starting pitcher is to provide innings and hold leads, so I'm just upset about that."
While the pitching has a whole was particularly bad (25 hits and 16 runs allowed in the series) the Rangers' batters were not to be outdone. Texas managed only seven runs for the series, leaving a whopping 21 runners stranded in the three games against Minnesota.
"Good pitching stops hitting," said Manager Ron Washington after the sweep. "But the opportunities were there. We just couldn't cash in."
These losses prove that Texas is simply not among one of the league's best teams as it's 25-18 record suggested a little over a week ago. The Rangers are now a half game back of the A's in the A.L. West.
However, Texas looks to rebound as the team gets a day off for Memorial Day before traveling to Chicago to take on the White Sox for a three-game set starting Tuesday night. The Rangers have lost nine of their last 10 road games overall, but the White Sox come into the game at only 22-28 on the season and only 11-13 at home.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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