- That's now three straight series that the Rangers have lost. They've lost 6 of their last 9.
- Yu Darvish was pretty good today, but not great. The command came and went, although he got a lot of swinging strikes, as evidenced by his 11 Ks. He also gave up 4 walks, though, which meant that he was at 112 pitches after 6 innings, a less than impressive level of efficiency. The killer inning was the third, when Johnny Damon led off with an easy pop fly that Ian Kinsler never saw in the sun, and that dropped untouched in the infield for a base hit. After a walk to Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera then drove in both runners with a double. A third run scored when Elvis Andrus attempted one of his jump-throws, and airmailed the ball several feet over Michael Young at first base, allowing Cabrera to score from second. Darvish's ERA for the year is now 2.54.
- Mark Lowe and Koji Uehara each had a scoreless inning. Lowe's ERA is now 1.12, the second-lowest on the team, and Uehara has retired the last fifteen batters he has faced, with his ERA dropping to 2.00.
- There was a lot of discussion about the Cabrera double, which was pulled down the first base line and past a diving Michael Young. Many folks in the game day thread seemed to think that that's a ball that a good first baseman fields and gets an out on. I disagree. While that's a ball that some first basemen might make a play on some of the time, I think that, regardless of who was playing first base today, that ball most likely goes for a double. If you want to be mad at someone about that play, be mad at Yu Darvish for leaving a ball out over the plate that Cabrera could (and did) hit hard.
- The problem today was the offense, and there are a lot of guys not hitting. Nelson Cruz continued to struggle today. Mike Napoli
struckpopped out in a pinch hitting appearance, and is now hitting .238, and is 6 for his last 35. Yorvit Torrealba's 0 for 3 dropped his average on the year to .196. You aren't going to win many games when you score just 2 runs, or when you record just 6 hits. - The 6 Ranger hits were scattered among 6 Ranger hitters, but one of the few bright spots offensively for the Rangers was Elvis Andrus, who was 1 for 2 with a double and a pair of walks. He's continuing to show growth and maturity in his approach at the plate this season.
- So, yeah, Baltimore. Let's take at least a couple from them next week.