When it comes to facing MLB’s best pitching, Rangers are usually left to hope and pray

ARLINGTON — As the Rangers zigzagged their way back to .500, and momentarily above it, there was this theory (or maybe just a hope) that went like this: If they could somehow squeak into the playoffs, the tandem of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi could make them as formidable as anybody.

Alternate theory: Only if they can hit.

Good as deGrom and Eovaldi have been, the Rangers would only face tough pitchers come October. And against tough pitchers, they just don’t stand a chance. Now, Tarik Skubal, who started Detroit’s 2-1 win on Sunday, may be the toughest of them all, but it applies to the merely very good, as well.

“The only thing you can try to do against a tough pitcher like that is be in a position to win the game, which we were,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We can talk about approach, but he’s one of the best in the game. He’s tough duty for hitters. You hope you battle and find a way to score, which we did.”

Rangers

Well, once. On a wild pitch. But facts are facts. They did score. Tied the game, even.

Before we get to the rest of the postmortem, we should mention the Rangers won the series against Detroit and have a chance to get legitimately hot with two more series on this homestand against clubs with losing records, the Parts Unknown Athletics and Atlanta. Win both of those series and the Rangers will have accomplished what they need to on the final homestand before trade-deadline decisions must be made.

But, they also took their first three-game winning streak in a month into Sunday and had a chance to create real momentum.

Instead, aside from another plucky pitching performance by stand-in starter Jacob Latz, all the Rangers did was raise more questions not just about how capable they are of making the playoffs, but just what they are capable of doing in the playoffs.

Against the top one-third of MLB starting pitchers, based on ERA, the Rangers are woeful. With Sunday’s loss, the Rangers are 5-17 in those games. The top third has a 1.83 ERA against the Rangers. The Rangers are hitting .195 against them. After Skubal struck out 11 in 6⅔ innings without a walk, those pitchers have a 5.77 strikeout-to-walk rate against Texas. Yes, it’s one thing for Skubal to look like Skubal. But the Rangers have made 13 others (some on more than one occasion) look like him, too.

Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim reacted after striking out with runners in scoring position during the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers at Globe Life Field on Sunday, July 20, 2025.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

You are going to have a hard time beating those teams when those guys start, sure. But in all other games started by the top tier, opponents have won about 42% of the time. The Rangers: 23%. Good as deGrom and Eovaldi have been, the Rangers have only won 60% of their starts. The math doesn’t add up.

A day earlier, Bochy had been asked what amounted to “success” against the game’s best pitchers. He acknowledged that .500 might be acceptable, but said the Rangers’ goals were higher.

“I guess kind of like playing on the road, you think about .500, but I don’t want to put a number like that on it,” he said. “I like to think we’re going to win more games than we lose against top-tier pitchers, because of who we have. We feel like we can match up with anybody.”

Against Skubal, the Rangers do employ their own kryptonite: Corey Seager. On Sunday, Seager ripped a first-inning double, went 2 for 3 against him and is 8 for 12 in his career against Skubal.

Alas, after both of Seager’s hits, which amounted to the only two base runners the Rangers had through the first six innings, he did not advance. Marcus Semien and Adolis García struck out to end the first. After a leadoff single to start the fourth, Semien bounced into a fielder’s choice, García struck out again and then Detroit center fielder Matt Vierling ran down the best struck ball by a Ranger all night to snag Kyle Higashioka’s drive.

It also doesn’t help that injuries and underperformance have decimated the right side of the Rangers’ lineup. Josh Jung is in the minors. Jake Burger is nursing a quadriceps injury. Switch-hitting Sam Haggerty, who has thrived from the right side, is dealing with a sore ankle that required a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment and forced him to the injured list.

It left Bochy with this option: Either let lefties Evan Carter, Josh Smith, Alejandro Osuna and Rowdy Tellez face a guy who was allowing lefties a .180 batting average and .406 OPS, or use unproven right-handers to try to gain a platoon edge. And it’s not like the lefty brigade has made a case for themselves against lefties. They were a combined 17 for 98 (.173) this season.

So the Rangers ended up with a bottom-third of the batting order composed of Cody Freeman, making his first career start, Justin Foscue and Ezequiel Duran. They were hitting a composite .119 against lefties.

It went about as you’d expect: They went 0 for 9 with six strikeouts. When Detroit finally went to the bullpen and brought in lefty Tyler Holton to replace Skubal, the Rangers stuck with Freeman. The good news: The tying run scored during his at-bat when a wild pitch got by catcher Dillon Dingler. It also moved the go-ahead run to third. Then Freeman grounded to short.

Holton remained in for the eighth after Detroit took the lead on two infield hits and a soft single up the middle on a full-count pitch from Chris Martin, who had tried to push through a calf muscle that had grabbed at him earlier in the at-bat. Foscue and Duran struck out.

“There’s always a thought [about turning to the lefties],” Bochy said. “But, with a different left-hander and a different look, we were hoping [for better].”

This, it seems, is the Rangers’ only strategy when the best in the game start: to hope.

Last we checked, hope is not a strategy.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

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