WASHINGTON — The hitting numbers with runners in scoring position have been what they’ve been lately. The bullpen, well, largely remains a work in progress too.
A third thorn in the Texas Rangers’ side has presented itself on this six-game East Coast road trip: the starting pitchers have been gotten to early. In each of the five games on this road trip thus far, the opposing team has scored at least one first-inning run.
None went as haywire as quickly as Andrew Heaney’s start on Saturday against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.
Heaney, in three innings, allowed eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits (three home runs), a walk and four strikeouts in the Rangers’ 8-3 loss.
“Just wasn’t good,” Heaney said. “Off-speed stuff wasn’t good, fastballs in fastball counts were too much plate. Not putting guys away. Just not a whole lot good.”
The first four Washington batters reached against Heaney. CJ Abrams hit an 0-2 fastball left over the heart of the plate for a single. Lane Thomas hit a first-pitch fastball for another. Jeimer Candelario turned an outside slider around for a three-run home run, and Joey Meneses followed with a solo shot on an inside four-seamer to make it 4-0 before Washington recorded an out.
The Rangers have faced an immediate deficit in each game of this now 2-3 road trip. Boston scored in the first inning of each of its three games vs. Texas; Meneses hit a solo home run in the first inning on Friday. It impedes the starting pitcher’s ability to settle in, and it forces an already-scuffling Rangers offense into comeback mode quick.
It’s just not the best combination.
“That first inning is so important for a starter,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “They’re trying to get settled in, I think especially on the road with a mound they’re not quite used to or a ballpark. They’re getting the feel of everything.”
Heaney made his first start Saturday since his wife, Jordan, gave birth to twin daughters on Monday. He was able to maintain his regular pre-start routine with a mid-week bullpen session at Globe Life Field. Things were, Heaney said, “as close to normal as possible.”
“I just didn’t pitch well,” he said.
Heaney walked No. 8 hitter Luis Garcia to lead off the second on seven pitches; No. 9 hitter Alex Call hit one of Heaney’s fastballs over the center-field wall to give Washington a 6-0 lead. Two at bats later, Lane Thomas hit a first-pitch slider for a single, stole second and scored after Meneses turned on a middle-middle fastball for a double. In the third, Garcia tripled and scored on that same play via a Marcus Semien throwing error to make it 8-0.
Maybe the rain delay — oh, yeah, there was an hour-plus rain delay — helped the pitching. Grant Anderson (four innings pitched, zero earned runs) and Brock Burke (one inning pitched, zero earned runs) shut down Washington after the pause.
And in regards to the offense: the last week has been a battle to get the top half of the Rangers’ lineup and the bottom half to sync up at the same time. On Saturday, the offense almost entirely came from the No. 5 hitter. All-Star third baseman Josh Jung hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to make it 8-2, then hit a solo shot in the sixth to make it 8-3.
“The kid, what a great job he’s done,” Bochy said. “Even though we got down, I still felt good about us coming back. We’ve shown that we can.”
No. 9 hitter Leody Taveras led the seventh inning off with a double; Marcus Semien (groundout), Corey Seager (strikeout) and Nathaniel Lowe (flyout) failed to move him to third. Since the start of this six-game road trip, the Rangers’ top six batters have hit just .205 with runners in scoring position.
The Rangers can salvage a series win — which would be their first June 19-21 against the Chicago White Sox — Sunday. Dane Dunning, one of the American League’s best starters this season, is scheduled to pitch.
It seems like a good recipe for a win.
The Rangers (and their 4-6 record in their last 10 games) could use one.
“I think it’d be big, I’ll be honest,” Bochy said. “That’s my thinking coming here (Sunday). It’d be nice to end on a good note.”
