35-64 - Rangers avoid no-hit humiliation to pair with embarrassing 11-game skid

The Texas Rangers managed a run with their two hits but the Houston Astros scored four runs.

How did this team manhandle AL Cy Young favorite Gerrit Cole earlier this season?

How did this team sweep the Astros in May?

How did this team beat the reigning champion Dodgers 12-1 in a contest in LA?

How did this team manage an 18-18 record through 36 games?

Not only do the Rangers now have their longest losing streak of my lifetime and longest since May of 1982, they haven’t even led in a game at any point in the last 95 innings which is the longest such drought since the Braves trailed for 96 consecutive innings into May of 1977 (according to STATS).

It’s extraordinarily difficult to be as bad as the 2021 Texas Rangers.

The only solace that you can take tonight is your club wasn’t no-hit even though it took them into the eighth inning to allay that concern.

They weren’t even shut out after a solo Andy Ibanez bomb an inning later, but they were soundly and easily defeated for an eleventh consecutive game so we’re at the bare minimum of comfort here.

Player of the Game: No one. Absolutely none of these people. No, not even Isiah Kiner-Falefa whose dying quail of a leadoff single in the eighth prevented a third no-hitter this season. Ok. Maybe Ibanez.

However, let’s talk about Kyle Gibson. Kyle Gibson wasn’t good today at all. He walked eight hitters. It was a career-high and the most by a Ranger in almost 20 years. This is a bad time — considering the date — for Kyle Gibson to perform poorly and do worst-in-his-life things. It’s a patented Rangers result, however.

All you can really say is that, results wise, against probably the top hitting team in the league, only allowing three runs in six innings after walking eight hitters should be considered a blessing for Gibson in what might be his final outing for Texas. I mean, it’s even technically a quality start!

Considering what happened with the bats, it’s not like he was picking up a W anyway.

Up Next: The Rangers will opt for a bullpen game in tomorrow’s finale with RHP Spencer Patton LHP Taylor Hearn first to take the mound as Texas adjusts for the doubleheader in Buffalo last week, while the Astros will just send RHP Zack Greinke to the mound to work on his own no-hitter.

Sunday’s first pitch from Minute Maid Park is scheduled for 1:10 pm CT.