HOUSTON — To his credit, the term “big hit,” which has haunted the Rangers in various ways for a year-and-a-half now, was not used.
The sentiment remained the same nevertheless.
“It feels like we’ve had chances, gosh, all road trip, for sure, with guys on base,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We just haven’t pushed through.”
The Rangers are just 3 for 28 with runners in scoring position in their last four games, and in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Astros at Daikin Park, they finished 1 for 7 in those situations. Their lone hit came in the top of the third inning when right fielder Alejandro Osuna hit a single off of right-handed pitcher Ronel Blanco that scored center fielder Evan Carter from second base and pulled the Rangers to within a run. They finished hitless in their next five at-bats with runners in scoring position, though to be fair, one of those outs belonged to catcher Elias Diaz, who scored third baseman Ezequiel Duran with a sacrifice squeeze bunt one at-bat after Osuna’s hit.
“We’ve faced some pretty good arms, and some pretty good arms on the road, too,” said second baseman Nicky Lopez who, one at-bat after Diaz laid down a bunt, grounded out to strand Osuna at second base. “Tampa is nothing to bat an eye about and obviously Houston plays really well here. I think maybe it’s just something about maybe approach, or shortening up, or whatever it might be for you individually to get the job done. I think it’s one of those things that, sometimes when it does happen, it can pile up.”
It’s piled up at an awfully unfortunate time, and in Saturday’s loss, it nullified what Schumaker believed were largely decent at-bats. The Rangers worked three consecutive walks against left-handed pitcher Bennett Sousa to load the bases in the fifth inning, but with two outs, Duran swung through a slider to strand the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first.
The Rangers have a .458 OPS with the bases loaded this season. That’s the lowest in baseball by a considerable margin, and for context, would be the lowest any team has posted in over a decade if maintained for the rest of this season. The 2012 Astros, who finished with a 55-107 record and posted a .440 OPS with the bases loaded, were the last team to struggle that much in that situation.
“We’ve talked about it, we’ve not talked about it, we’ve done a million things to try and change it up a little bit,” Schumaker said. “You’re trying different ways to help break it open when it happens. We all think about it, and we’re all trying to find different ways to talk about it, as far as game planning, or making light about it, or being aggressive about it, whatever it is. You’re trying different things in my seat to empower coaches to try different things and they are.”