ARLINGTON — Kansas City’s Michael Wacha took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers on Thursday and, so, you know how this is gonna go.
Ultimately, the Rangers fell 4-1 to Kansas City to complete the Royals sweep. The Rangers, who swept the Chicago White Sox to start the homestand and push momentarily back to .500, ended the stand 3-3 and at 36-39 overall.
Some details:
The story: The Rangers fell down by three runs early and that’s an insurmountable deficit for this team. A two-run, two-out homer by Vinnie Pasquantonio off Shawn Armstrong made it 2-0 to end the first. Jac Caglianone hit a leadoff homer off otherwise exceptional Jake Latz to start the second. The Rangers have not come back from anything more than a two-run deficit and they only managed that once, but it was less than a week ago against the Chicago White Sox.
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The star: LHP Jake Latz, the designated “bulk innings” pitcher, went a career-high 5 ⅔ innings, allowing only a single run on the first career homer by Caglianone. The pitch was well above the zone, but Caglianone was able to tomahawk out of the park
The Rangers haven’t had a reliever go more than five innings and allow one or zero runs since Jordan Lyles in 2021 when he was a starter but pitched behind an “opener” for a day. Over the last month, Latz has a 2.36 ERA in 19 innings. After throwing 82 pitches on Thursday, it’s worth wondering if Latz might be transitioning to a legitimate starting option.
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The stat: Corey Seager, who was 0 for 4 including two at-bats with runners on base, is in the worst stretch of his career. For his last 18 games, he’s batting just .143 with a .175 slugging percentage. He has just two extra-base hits, both doubles in that stretch. Both slash line categories are the worst for any single-season 18-game span of his career.
Up next: The Rangers begin a week-long road trip Friday at Pittsburgh. Jacob deGrom, who turned 37 on Thursday, will start the series opener.
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