23-38 - Rangers crumble late in 7-1 series-dropping loss to Rays

The Texas Rangers scored one run and the Tampa Bay Rays scored seven runs.

For a little while it looked like this game was a copy of yesterday’s contest but with the positions on the scoreboard swapped as the Rangers opened up the game with a run in the first inning and that run stuck as the lead all the way until the eighth inning when Tampa Bay broke through for three runs before piling on an inning later.

The difference is, yesterday, the Rays eventually padded their lead and never let the Rangers on the board. The issue for Texas today was they didn’t bother building on that first run at any point against the American League’s top team and there was always a sense that that was going to end up biting them in the behind.

Instead of walking away with the series win, the Rangers will have to settle for just one victory this weekend but the losing streak stands at 2 instead of 12 so that’s something, I guess.

Player of the Game: Dane Dunning’s five innings of scoreless ball in his start today featured just three hits, a couple of walks, and six strikeouts in 80 pitches.

It’ll be interesting to see (probably next season) what Dunning looks like in the 80-110 pitch, third and fourth time through the order range when the limiters are lifted but, for now, he’s making the most of his 80 pitches more often than not.

Up Next: The Rangers have tomorrow off before welcoming the San Francisco Giants to Arlington for a two-game set beginning on Tuesday night.