Thoughts on a 3-0 Rangers loss

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ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JULY 04: A large-scale beer mug is shown outside of the ballpark prior to the game between the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers at Globe Life Field on July 04, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Tigers 3, Rangers 0

• That was not exciting.
• Or fun.
• Three hits, a walk, and an HBP. That was the extent of the runners on base that the Texas Rangers had.
• Evan Carter got on base three times — he had the walk and HBP, as well as one of the three hits.
• And see, the problem with that is that, if you’re going to have this paltry number of baserunners, then, if you’re going to score runs, you are generally going to have to bunch them together.
• The same player getting on base three times, and the rest of the team just twice, pretty well means you aren’t bunching the “getting on base” events together in an inning. That’s just science.
• It is unfortunate because the Rangers pitchers did an awfully good job overall. They allowed just nine baserunners, with one of those nine being the result of an error by Alejandro Osuna.
• Alejandro Osuna has had a series of unfortunate events in the outfield this year. I’m not entirely sure as to why — his reputation coming up in the minors was that he was a good corner outfielder who could play center if need be.
• The numbers back up the eye test on Osuna in the outfield this year — he’s at -6 fielding runs for the year, per Statcast, and both his range and his arm value are in the bottom 10%.
• An error in the second by Osuna led to the Tigers scoring an unearned run, which would be more angst-inducing if it weren’t for the fact that the Rangers did nothing offensively, and Riley Greene had already hit a two run homer in the first inning, giving Detroit all the runs they would need in the game anyway. That third run was just something a little extra to upset us with.
• Credit to the Rangers pitchers, who generally did their jobs. Cal Quantrill gave the Rangers five innings on 66 pitches, and but for the Greene home run pitched quite well.
• Tyler Alexander threw a scoreless inning. Ben Peoples made his major league debut and logged a couple of shutout innings, so that’s cool.
• Chris Martin made his triumphant return from the injured list with a scoreless inning. He went strikeout, hard hit single, hard hit ground out, soft flare to shortstop.
• I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but the Rangers’ bullpen has a lot of guys injured right now. If Chris Martin could be a functional, decent bullpen arm going forward, that would be extremely helpful.
• Is hoping for Chris Martin to stay healthy for the next few months unrealistic? Is it too big of an ask? Might as well I be asking for rainbows and butterflies to shoot out of my butt?
• Maybe, but hope springs eternal, at least until mathematical elimination.
• Hope springs eternal even when the Rangers offense does its doodle bug routine and curls up into an impenetrable ball until we walk away and leave it alone. Joc Pederson singled to lead off the first, which is always an encouraging way for things to start.
• Leadoff hits make it more likely you’re going to win the game, right? Than if there’s not a leadoff hit?
• The Rangers had just two more hits the rest of the game.
• The only Ranger batter to reach second base was Josh Jung, who had a two out double in the sixth. Brandon Nimmo ended up being the only Ranger to hit with a runner in scoring position when he came up after the Jung double. He grounded out.
• So that was no fun. And the Mariners won, so the Rangers are back in second place, and we don’t like that, either. Let’s do something about that.
• Cal Quantrill touched 94.9 mph with his fastball, averaging 94.0 mph. Tyler Alexander reached 92.4 mph with his fastball. Ben Peoples topped out at 96.8 mph with his fastball. Chris Martin’s fastball maxed out at 95.1 mph.
• Elias Diaz had a 104.6 mph groundout. Joc Pederson had a 104.0 mph single and a 103.3 mph groundout. Josh Jung had a 102.9 mph double and a 101.9 mph groundout. Brandon Nimmo had a 102.4 mph fly out. Josh Smith had a 101.1 mph fly out.
• Let us set this aside now.

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