WEST SACRAMENTO -- The Rangers had it set how they wanted it on Thursday night at Sutter Health Park.
Leading by one run for most of the night, Texas¡¯ three high-leverage arms of Robert Garcia, Chris Martin and Luke Jackson were rested and ready to close out the final three innings against the A¡¯s, looking for a series victory. Instead, Garcia faced one batter too many in the eighth inning, and Jackson came in for the final out of the frame -- which he secured, striking out Brent Rooker looking.
A four-out save loomed for Jackson, who was 7-for-7 in save opportunities this season. He induced a groundout to open the inning before walking Max Schuemann with one out. He then allowed a single to Luis Ur¨ªas, which was bobbled by center fielder Leody Taveras, allowing Schuemann to score from first base. Jacob Wilson walked it off against Jackson two batters later to end the game, 4-3 A's.
¡°No excuse,¡± Taveras said. ¡°That¡¯s a play I have to make to win the game. I just missed it. It could¡¯ve been anything, but there¡¯s no excuses. That¡¯s a play I have to make. It¡¯s bad. It¡¯s a bad feeling. I cost us the win.¡±
Taveras has been billed as an elite defensive outfielder since his prospect days, but he has had several miscues in center field throughout the first month of this season.
¡°He¡¯s had a couple mistakes,¡± said manager Bruce Bochy. ¡°It's unlike Leo. It's just about focus. That's a big play at that point. It's the last thing we can let happen there. He's a good center fielder. He's had a couple mistakes out there. We¡¯ve got to keep working with Leo. He hadn¡¯t had a start in a while. He had a big home run there [in the fourth inning], but still, we¡¯ve got to play well defensively when we're not scoring a lot of runs.¡±
It also, unfortunately, wasn¡¯t the only defensive miscue of the game. Rangers ace Jacob deGrom allowed those two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out six hitters.
Those two runs the A¡¯s scored in the third inning came after left fielder Wyatt Langford lost a ball in the lights of Sutter Health Park, gifting a double to Lawrence Butler and setting up a two-RBI double from Tyler Soderstrom.
¡°We had a bad break with that twilight ball,¡± Bochy said. ¡°Those are tough. It¡¯s always tough to lose like this. We¡¯ve been playing really well defensively, I think. We did make a couple of mistakes, but I think overall we¡¯ve been playing well. It just got away from us. When you're in a tight game like this, anything can happen. Give [the A¡¯s] credit, they battled back.¡±
The Rangers' offense is still scuffing, despite a season-high eight runs in the series-opening win over the A¡¯s on Tuesday. The Rangers collected seven hits and three walks in Thursday¡¯s loss, but went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. They were 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position during the series.
¡°It¡¯s tough to get walked off, but probably [what frustrates me] more than anything is that we couldn't tack on in this ballpark,¡± Bochy said. ¡°You¡¯re hoping to add on and we had some chances there. We couldn't get a hit with runners in scoring position that came back to get us.
¡°We need to get these bats going. They are good hitters. We¡¯re just trying to get things going there a little bit offensively. We had our chances. We just gotta get this thing clicking throughout the lineup.¡±
If anything good was to come out of the series loss, it¡¯s that deGrom is looking more and more like himself with each start this season. deGrom left the game with the Rangers leading by a run thanks to solo home runs from Josh Jung, Jonah Heim and Taveras in the top of the fourth, but he is still winless this season.
Through his first three starts of the year, the right-hander had a rocky 4.30 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP in 14 2/3 innings. Across his last two starts against the A¡¯s and Dodgers, he¡¯s allowed just three runs in 12 1/3 innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.33.
¡°I feel close,¡± deGrom said. ¡°There's still work to do, but I¡¯ll probably say that between every start. I¡¯m constantly trying to perfect things. Tonight, the main thing was I wasn't able to make a pitch when I needed to.¡±