ATLANTA -- It was a messy game to end a messy series.
The Rangers fell, 8-5, to the Braves on Sunday afternoon at Truist Park, and for however messy it may have been, it was winnable. It was a winnable series, despite a 14-run thumping in the series opener on Friday.
“We're a really good team,” third baseman Josh Jung said. “That's a really good team on the other side, too. That's what you take away. We're not that far off. Even sometimes when it feels like [we’re far off], we're really good.”
Here are three other takeaways as the Rangers head back to Globe Life Field home for a major homestand against the White Sox and Mariners.
1. Defensive miscues
The Rangers had no errors in the scorebook on Sunday. But when the Braves put together a three-run seventh inning to put the game out of reach, it was the defensive miscues and mental mistakes that set the stage.
After Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson hit a leadoff double, Jung didn't give the ball up in a rundown situation, leaving runners at first and second with one out. Immediately afterwards, Ezequiel Duran got caught between hops on an Eli White ground ball, failing to record any outs and leaving the bases loaded.
Atlanta broke the game open shortly thereafter.
Jung said he didn’t create the right throwing lane on the rundown: "[If} I would have tried to throw it to Nicky [Lopez], I'd have probably hit him right in the back.” Duran admitted that he felt like he had time to make the play at second on the ground ball, but that wasn’t the case.
“My take was that JJ thought he could run Olson down, and probably should have given up the ball to Lopez,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He kept it to himself and should have given it up. I think he knows that. I think the ground ball to Zeke, [Mauricio] Dubón had a really, really good secondary [lead] and probably should have gotten one there.”
“Just a couple mental mistakes that a good team will make you pay for,” he added.
2. What’s up with the pitching staff?
The Rangers’ offense was outscored by 16 runs (29-13) in the three-game series. Cal Quantrill, MacKenzie Gore and Nathan Eovaldi gave up a combined 15 runs in their three starts.
In all, the pitching staff allowed 29 runs and 42 hits in the series, their most in a single three-game set this season. They gave up eight or more hits for the 10th consecutive game dating to July 5, their longest streak since a 14-game run from July 3-22, 2015.
The defensive miscues didn’t help, but the bullpen also wasn’t able to stop the bleeding at multiple points this series.
“We just gave up a lot of hits this series, I know that,” Schumaker said. “We gotta figure out how to contain some good offenses, because we're going to continue to face good offenses. You’re not allowed to make these types of mistakes against good teams. They capitalize. We made multiple today in one inning. Honestly, I don't even care who you play at the Major League level, it's gonna cost you.”
3. Offense is better, but still squandering too many opportunities
Speaking of, the Rangers also failed to capitalize on the Braves’ own mistakes throughout the weekend. Despite scoring five runs, the Rangers’ offense went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranding nine on base. Even in Saturday’s win, they stranded 10 on base.
At the conclusion of Sunday’s game, the Rangers had the second-most runners left on base in the American League with 694.
“We had a chance today to capitalize on an error and we didn't,” Schumaker said. “We didn’t [capitalize]. They did.”
Since the end of May, the Rangers’ offense has looked more like what they’ve envisioned of themselves. Since May 29, Texas has slashed .264/.330/.434, ranking first in the AL in on-base percentage, second in batting average, second in OPS and third in slugging.
The issue has been bringing those runners in.
“There was a lot of offense today,” Schumaker said. “I don't know how many hits we ended up with, at least 10 [actually 11]. The offense was really good. I thought we put together some really good at-bats. The game could have gotten away. We fought back. We're down by one run for a couple innings, and then, obviously, gave up a couple more runs there. But I thought our offense actually had a really good day. Just a tough loss.”