ARLINGTON -- “Dominate the Fundamentals" adorns the hallway that leads from the Rangers' clubhouse to the dugout at Globe Life Field.
It’s one of the pillars that the organization is built around.
On Tuesday, the Rangers had just one official error on the books. But a messy defensive day across the board in the series opener against the Mets turned into a field day for New York hitters.
The Rangers ultimately lost, 6-3, to the Mets, dropping their second game in a row in the midst of a race for the American League West.
“It's terrible,” said first baseman Jake Burger, whose double pump on a foul popup allowed one Mets run to score on a sacrifice in the sixth inning. “Obviously, our pitchers are giving us a chance every night, and we got to pick them up. Can't expect to win the division when we're playing like that, on three obviously separate occasions, in my opinion. It sucks. It's behind us, though. We got to flush it and focus on tomorrow. I don't think that's who we are."
The Rangers’ sole lead atop the AL West lasted a grand total of three days after gaining four games on the Astros since Sept. 12. Texas has had 51 days with at least a share of first place, including at the end of Tuesday night, but Houston owns the tiebreaker. The Astros' 7-0 win over the Mariners on Tuesday pulled them back into a tie with Texas for first place.
The Rangers’ one official error was an E9 on right fielder Brandon Nimmo, who dropped a ball in the gap between him and utility man Ezequiel Duran, who was also converging on the ball. But there were other plays that could have been made. Burger said he felt like there were three of them.
“I don't think we played nervous,” manager Skip Schumaker said of the poor day all around. “As far as nerves, no, I don't think they were nervous. It was just a couple of misplays. … I think you're used to seeing those plays made. They're really good. They play fundamentally sound. They've been playing fundamentally sound baseball. We made a couple miscues tonight that cost us, and that's part of the reason why we lost. So again, that's why we have to flush it.”
The Rangers’ patchwork pitching staff was put to the test again on Tuesday, when starter MacKenzie Gore battled his way through five innings before turning it over to the bullpen.
Gore has been dealing with muscle spasms since his last start, but he said that he felt like he figured out how to deal with it. Against the Red Sox that day, he went just four innings as he battled the spasms that were obviously affecting his control and command more than usual. Nathan Eovaldi finished that game with four scoreless innings behind reliever Jakob Junis.
On Tuesday, Gore tossed five innings as he clearly battled through something with his velocity down multiple ticks across the board. Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs and head trainer Matt Lucero made a visit to the mound after Gore issued a four-pitch walk to Francisco Lindor in the second inning. He stayed in the game, allowing two runs (one earned) before turning it over to Eovaldi, looking to rewrite a similar script.
“He grinded that out,” Schumaker said of Gore. “He gave everything he had today, an impressive outing. I thought he did enough. He thought he did enough as well -- five innings coming out with the lead. We had a couple misplays behind him as well, and he fought through it. So I thought he did an excellent job.”
Eovaldi allowed three runs in a messy sixth inning, allowing the Mets to take a lead that they never relinquished.
“I just thought there was just a couple pitches that he's used to executing that got too much of the plate tonight,” Schumaker said.
Therein lies the Rangers’ problem.
The pitching has been a tightrope walk all month long due to the number of injuries throughout the staff. The team needs to be firing on all cylinders in all other aspects to keep being competitive this final week.
That’s the only way to stave off the Astros.
“It's about us and it's about what we do out there,” Burger said. “I don't think we should focus on any other team other than what we did tonight. To be completely frank, it was bad showing on multiple fronts. So just flush it, move on tomorrow. We have five games left. They have [five] games left. We just go out there and play our game. Obviously, it sucks. We wanted to win this game, but can't really dwell on it anymore. I’ll put my head down on the pillow and focus on tomorrow.”