Rangers can't stop falling behind in the 1st inning. How do they fix it?

ARLINGTON -- If it feels like many Rangers games are over before they start, then you might not be too far off.

The Rangers lost, 9-3, to the Twins on Thursday afternoon as Minnesota completed a sweep at Globe Life Field. And unfortunately, you’ve probably already seen this film before.

Rangers starter Jack Leiter gave up four runs in the first inning, capped by a three-run homer from Brooks Lee. It's the 15th time Texas starting pitchers have allowed more than one run in the first inning. They’ve lost all 15 of those games.

Texas’ 25 first-inning home runs allowed are nine more than any other MLB team, and the club’s 7.05 first-inning ERA is the highest in MLB.

“The first inning, it's almost … I don't know if it's becoming a thing mentally, but it’s something that we’ve got to continue to address,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Because we're playing from behind too often, and it's tough to play catch-up.”

The Rangers were outscored 9-0 in the first inning by the Twins across the three-game sweep. In each game, multiple runs were surrendered by Leiter, Kumar Rocker and MacKenzie Gore before a Ranger even stepped into the batter’s box.

The crooked numbers are real, Schumaker said. It’s a race to four runs and all too often, the Rangers are falling behind too quickly.

“I think our starters have really good stuff, they're really good pitchers,” Schumaker said. “The strength of our ball club is based around our starting pitching. Putting up a zero in the first or second inning isn't some crazy thought. That's why I think it's becoming more of a mental thing than anything. Maybe even on the offensive side, too. I think just collectively, it might be more mental right now, because the physical stuff -- we’re too good to give up this type of damage in the first couple innings.”

Additionally, the Rangers are now 9-31 when opponents score first, compared to 26-8 when they score first. Not only are the pitchers digging holes early, the offense is struggling to find a way to fight back. Texas hitters went 0-for-18 with runners in scoring position in three games against the Twins, never scoring more than three runs.

Texas hit three home runs on Thursday, thanks to Wyatt Langford, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue. All three were solo shots, compared to Minnesota’s two home runs coming with runners on base.

Rangers hitters are well aware of the numbers and their struggles when playing from behind.

“I don't really feel [any pressure or stress] in the dugout,” first baseman Jake Burger said. “Four to nothing shouldn't be something that you're scared of, especially in the first frame. When it starts to get to seven or eight, yeah, you definitely feel it more. If you have an eight-run deficit, it's tough to feel like you're in the game. But I think 4-0 in the first frame, you have nine frames. There shouldn't be any panic. I know I'm not panicking and it doesn't feel like we are as a collective as well.”

There may not be any panic, but there’s clear deflation when you’re playing from behind every night. That was clear during the sweep.

The Rangers were riding high the last time they were in Arlington. They were in the midst of winning five straight series and even got back a pair of hefty hitters off the injured list in Langford and Corey Seager. A week later, Seager is down again with a concussion and Texas has now lost back-to-back series against teams that were sitting below them in the standings to drop to four games below .500.

There’s still time to get things back on track. But they’re slowly running out of it.

“I think inconsistency,” Burger said when asked to evaluate the club. “You can see what our offense can do on a nightly basis, but that's been kind of inconsistent. I think there's the ebbs and flows of baseball, always, right?

“I think, as long as you're confident in each guy and individual in here, it's really easy to pick on the micro moments as this massive negative, but if you look at the macro, we like what we have in here. We have a good group of guys, and you don't know how it's going to play out at the end of the year. You gotta keep that confidence in each other. So, I think that's how you evaluate it.”