Thoughts on a 3-2 Rangers loss

• What an unpleasant series.
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• The Rangers allowed 7 runs in this series but still lost two of three, due to scoring just 6 runs.

• That’s pretty terrible.

• The Rangers rolled with a bullpen game in this one. The pitchers the Rangers used: 1) Cole Winn, who is only still on the roster because he’s out of options; 2) Marco Gonzales, who was out of baseball in 2025, was picked up in June after being released by the Padres after posting a 7.99 ERA in AAA, and who was promoted by the Rangers after putting up a 8.64 ERA for Round Rock; 3) Peyton Gray, was was pitching in Indy League ball in 2022 and 2023, and in the Mexican Pacific Winter League from 2022-25, before being signed by the Rangers prior to the 2025 season; 4) Robby Ahlstrom, who was in AAA and not on the 40 man roster at the start of the season; and 5) Ben Peoples, who has been pitching professionally since 2019, had never pitched above AA until 2025, and who made his major league debut for the Rangers this season after they acquired him from the ChiSox, for whom he was toiling in AAA.

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• This rag-tag crew of misfits held the Rays to three runs.

• They held the Rays to two runs for 7.2 innings. Peoples gave up a homer to Cedric Mullins with two outs in the eighth, a solo shot that was the winning run.

• I want to bitch about how that’s what you get for having Ben Peoples be the guy who has to pitch in a tie game on the road in the eighth inning, but Peoples didn’t throw a bad pitch, and Mullins sliced a not terribly well hit pop fly the other way that barely made it over the fence right by the foul pole.

• With Shane McClanahan starting, the Rangers opted to go the bullpen game route so they could save Nathan Eovaldi to pitch the opener in Houston on Friday. And the Rangers need to sweep the Astros — currently a half-game back — in order to earn the tiebreaker, which is important. It did feel like they were sort of sacrificing this game to improve their chances in Houston.

• And yet, the coterie of relievers pitched well enough for the Rangers to win.

• Sadly, the Rangers only had two hits in the game.

• Its hard to win a game when you only register two hits. A lot of people don’t know that.

• One run came on a Joc Pederson pinch hit grounder that should have been a double play but instead was an error, allowing Ezequiel Duran to score. Duran had reached on a hit by pitch, and advanced to second on a Brandon Nimmo walk then to third on a Jake Burger fly out.

• The other run scored when Wyatt Langford doubled off of Craig Kimbrel, driving home Alejandro Osuna, who had singled ahead of Langford.

• That’s right, the two hits the Rangers had came in back-to-back at bats, a day after the only three hits the Rays recorded came in a four batter stretch to start the game.

• Strange things are afoot at the Tropicana Dome.

• The Rangers did draw an impressive eight walks, so that’s something, although the inability to get hits meant that none of those eight walks came around to score.

• The Rangers even drew a pair of walks in the ninth, the first of which was originally called a strike on a 3-2 pitch, but which Nicky Lopez successfully challenged. Langford drew a two out walk to put the tying run on second, but Ezequiel Duran fanned to end the game.

• After the Pederson RBI E6, Evan Grant said that the Rangers had caught a break by Taylor Walls having booted a potential inning-ending GIDP, and having tied the score on the play, really needed to score more runs in the inning.

• The problem is that Cam Cauley and Nicky Lopez were due up next. No shade on the two of them, but if you team needs to score runs in an inning, and Cam Cauley and Nicky Lopez are due up, your needs will probably go unmet.

• Cole Winn topped out at 95.5 mph with his fastball. Marco Gonzales hit 90.9 mph with his fastball. Peyton Gray reached 94.5 mph with his fastball. Robby Ahlstrom’s fastball topped out at 95.4 mph. Ben Peoples hit 96.7 mph with his fastball.

• Brandon Nimmo had a 108.1 mph groundout. Alejandro Osuna had a 104.9 mph single. Wyatt Langford had a 103.9 mph double, a 100.6 mph groundout and a 100.2 mph fly out. Jake Burger had a 102.8 mph fly out. Cam Cauley had a 100.2 mph groundout.

• Three down, three to go.

The Rangers allowed 7 runs in this series but still lost two of three, due to scoring just 6 runs.

The Rangers rolled with a bullpen game in this one. The pitchers the Rangers used: 1) Cole Winn, who is only still on the roster because he’s out of options; 2) Marco Gonzales, who was out of baseball in 2025, was picked up in June after being released by the Padres after posting a 7.99 ERA in AAA, and who was promoted by the Rangers after putting up a 8.64 ERA for Round Rock; 3) Peyton Gray, was was pitching in Indy League ball in 2022 and 2023, and in the Mexican Pacific Winter League from 2022-25, before being signed by the Rangers prior to the 2025 season; 4) Robby Ahlstrom, who was in AAA and not on the 40 man roster at the start of the season; and 5) Ben Peoples, who has been pitching professionally since 2019, had never pitched above AA until 2025, and who made his major league debut for the Rangers this season after they acquired him from the ChiSox, for whom he was toiling in AAA.

This rag-tag crew of misfits held the Rays to three runs.

They held the Rays to two runs for 7.2 innings. Peoples gave up a homer to Cedric Mullins with two outs in the eighth, a solo shot that was the winning run.

I want to bitch about how that’s what you get for having Ben Peoples be the guy who has to pitch in a tie game on the road in the eighth inning, but Peoples didn’t throw a bad pitch, and Mullins sliced a not terribly well hit pop fly the other way that barely made it over the fence right by the foul pole.

With Shane McClanahan starting, the Rangers opted to go the bullpen game route so they could save Nathan Eovaldi to pitch the opener in Houston on Friday. And the Rangers need to sweep the Astros — currently a half-game back — in order to earn the tiebreaker, which is important. It did feel like they were sort of sacrificing this game to improve their chances in Houston.

And yet, the coterie of relievers pitched well enough for the Rangers to win.

Sadly, the Rangers only had two hits in the game.

Its hard to win a game when you only register two hits. A lot of people don’t know that.

One run came on a Joc Pederson pinch hit grounder that should have been a double play but instead was an error, allowing Ezequiel Duran to score. Duran had reached on a hit by pitch, and advanced to second on a Brandon Nimmo walk then to third on a Jake Burger fly out.

The other run scored when Wyatt Langford doubled off of Craig Kimbrel, driving home Alejandro Osuna, who had singled ahead of Langford.

That’s right, the two hits the Rangers had came in back-to-back at bats, a day after the only three hits the Rays recorded came in a four batter stretch to start the game.

Strange things are afoot at the Tropicana Dome.

The Rangers did draw an impressive eight walks, so that’s something, although the inability to get hits meant that none of those eight walks came around to score.

The Rangers even drew a pair of walks in the ninth, the first of which was originally called a strike on a 3-2 pitch, but which Nicky Lopez successfully challenged. Langford drew a two out walk to put the tying run on second, but Ezequiel Duran fanned to end the game.

After the Pederson RBI E6, Evan Grant said that the Rangers had caught a break by Taylor Walls having booted a potential inning-ending GIDP, and having tied the score on the play, really needed to score more runs in the inning.

The problem is that Cam Cauley and Nicky Lopez were due up next. No shade on the two of them, but if you team needs to score runs in an inning, and Cam Cauley and Nicky Lopez are due up, your needs will probably go unmet.

Cole Winn topped out at 95.5 mph with his fastball. Marco Gonzales hit 90.9 mph with his fastball. Peyton Gray reached 94.5 mph with his fastball. Robby Ahlstrom’s fastball topped out at 95.4 mph. Ben Peoples hit 96.7 mph with his fastball.

Brandon Nimmo had a 108.1 mph groundout. Alejandro Osuna had a 104.9 mph single. Wyatt Langford had a 103.9 mph double, a 100.6 mph groundout and a 100.2 mph fly out. Jake Burger had a 102.8 mph fly out. Cam Cauley had a 100.2 mph groundout.