SEATTLE -- The House of Horrors remains.
The Rangers’ struggles at T-Mobile Park persisted this weekend. Despite finding a way to take the first game of the series, Texas dropped back-to-back contests on Saturday and Sunday and failed to finish out a potential series win.
The Rangers have not won a series in Seattle since May 8-10, 2023, which now stretches to a span of six straight series against their divisional rival. They are now 10-40 at T-Mobile Park since the start of the 2020 season.
On Sunday, the Rangers' offense was stymied by Bryan Woo, who allowed just two runs in seven innings, an even better performance than his rotation-mate George Kirby the night before (one run in 5 2/3 innings).
“He just kind of beat us in the zone,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “We had some good at-bats, some hard hits, but just nothing really to show for it. But again, Woo had a low pitch count, [85 pitches through seven innings]. He was just on the attack, and we couldn’t move the ball forward like we wanted to. Runners in scoring position this series, we just weren’t great at.”
No matter the offensive production in Seattle this season, it was the Texas starting pitching -- which has been a strength thus far -- that faltered in the series loss. None of the three veteran starters -- Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and MacKenzie Gore -- was able to go more than five innings.
On Friday and Saturday, it was deep counts and the number of pitches that ultimately sank deGrom and Eovaldi. On Sunday, Gore struggled with the long ball, allowing three home runs in his five innings of work.
Entering the day, Gore only had three career starts against the Mariners, but had allowed just one run across 18 innings. He matched that total with his first pitch, which Rob Refsnyder promptly sent into the Seattle bullpen for a leadoff homer.
A home run to J.P. Crawford in the second inning and one to Randy Arozarena in the fifth -- both of which came on 0-2 curveballs -- put the game out of reach.
“Those happen,” Schumacher said. “The 0-2 home runs, which are unfortunate, but I think the walk and then the home run [in the second inning] probably is the one that will eat at him the most. You're going to give up a solo home run here and there. I'm not worried about that. It's the walk in front of the home run that’s frustrating. He's going to be OK. Just a couple rough starts. I wouldn't even say rough starts. That team [the Mariners] was on the attack with him, but I think he's going to be fine.”
Gore admitted to maybe getting each of those curveballs that were hit for homers a bit more below the zone, though he didn’t feel like the one to Aronzarena was a terrible pitch.
“It was just one of those weird outings where we were trying to get back to being who we are,” Gore said. “The first pitch of the game [to Refsnyder], that's one I can live with. I just didn’t beat it to the spot. The other two, that's a situation I probably could have seen earlier … Especially the second homer [to Crawford]. Anytime you give up an 0-2 homer, the execution probably could be a little better.”
This comes fresh off an outing in which Gore allowed a career-high six walks while shouldering the loss against the A’s on Tuesday.
Gore, who was one of the Rangers’ biggest offseason acquisitions, was dominant through his first three starts, allowing only five runs -- and two solo homers -- in 16 1/3 innings against the Phillies, Reds and Mariners. Sunday against Seattle, he equaled the run total and allowed more homers.
“I think there's always stuff to work on,” Schumaker said of Gore. “I think he didn't walk many guys today. From last start to this start, we'll take that. He probably could have gone out for another inning without the last home run. So I thought his pitch count was where it needed to be. He could have easily gone six. My takeaway is he made the adjustment, got inside the strike zone, and then maybe too much inside the strike zone with the 0-2 counts. He'll continue to make the adjustments. He's one of our better pitchers. I'm sure he's looking forward to the next one already.”