Thoughts on a 2-1 Rangers loss

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ARLINGTON, TEXAS - APRIL 26: Jake Burger #21 of the Texas Rangers walks back to the dugout after striking out in the fourth inning against the Athletics at Globe Life Field on April 26, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) | Getty Images

A’s 2, Rangers 1

• And back to .500.
• So far this year, the Rangers have been at .500 eight times. Well, nine, if you count Opening Day, which I don’t.
• Kumar Rocker was fine on Sunday. The problem was, he apparently needed to be perfect.
• A pair of two out walks in the first were followed by a Carlos Cortes triple, and that ended up being the ballgame.
• It didn’t matter that Rocker didn’t walk anyone the rest of the way, went six innings with only those two runs coming across off of him, that the bullpen threw up three shutout innings.
• Rocker only struck out three A’s hitters in the game, and generated just eight swinging strikes, none of which came on his fastball or sinker. Not a dominating performance, but at the end of the day, he allowed just two runs in six innings, and you’d like to think that the Rangers offense would take advantage of that.
• The relievers the Rangers used — Tyler Alexander, Gavin Collyer, and Peyton Gray — are currently sporting a 0.63 ERA, a 0.00 ERA, and a 0.00 ERA. That’s good, it seems like.
• Offensively, the Rangers put a lot of runners on base but didn’t do anything with them once they were on base. Texas was 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, and the “1” was a Josh Smith bunt single that loaded the bases.
• The Rangers totaled six hits and five walks, and also had Evan Carter reach once on an HBP and once on an error on an attempted sac bunt. That Evan Carter sac bunt/error play also brought home the lone run of the game, but with no RBI credited because of the error. So the Rangers didn’t even get an RBI in this game.
• How sad.
• Part of the problem was a lack of extra base hits. Josh Jung had a pair of doubles, but every other hit was a single, and its harder to score runs with singles and walks than with extra base hits.
• Texas left runners on second and third with two outs in the second. Evan Carter reached on an HBP with one out in the fourth, stole second, was joined on the bases by Josh Smith with a two out walk, and both were stranded.
• In the sixth, after the E1 that brought Jung — who led off the inning again with a double — home and put Carter on base, Jake Burger walked and Smith had that aforementioned bunt single, loading the bases. Danny Jansen then struck out. Sam Haggerty, who had hit for Alejandro Osuna the inning before, struck out. Brandon Nimmo then hit a line drive that, had it been in the gap, would have cleared the bases, but instead was to straightaway center field, and thus was caught for an out.
• It felt then that it was over, and in fact, the Rangers only had two more baserunners the rest of the way, and didn’t get a runner past first base.
• The old adage says that you are going to win a third of your games and are going to lose a third of your games, and its what you do with the other third that matters. This was a game squarely in that other third, and the Rangers let it get away.
• Kumar Rocker hit 95.8 mph with his sinker, averaging 94.4 mph. Tyler Alexander reached 91.8 mph on his sinker. Gavin Collyer hit 97.8 mph with his fastball. Peyton Gray’s fastball touched 92.7 mph.
• Corey Seager had a 108.4 mph line out. Jake Burger had a 107.9 mph sinlge. Josh Jung had a 107.7 mph fly out and a 100.2 mph fly out. Brandon Nimmo had a 104.6 mph fly out and a 103.0 mph line out.
• Another game looms on the horizon. Maybe the Rangers will win it.

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