ARLINGTON -- The Rangers did what they must against the New York Yankees. They won the series. And, yet, they are faced with this hard truth: Doing what they must still may not be enough.
Also, the Rangers' Garcia issues appear to be multiplying. They now have two, though only one carries an accent in his last name.
In a 3-2 loss to the Yankees Wednesday, both Robert Garcia and Adolis García came up short. Garcia allowed the game-winning homer to Paul Goldschmidt, extending his homer streak to three consecutive appearances. Hitting fourth, García went 0 for 5, making the final out of an inning each time with a runner on base. On four of those occasions he had a runner in scoring position or at third base.
It denied them a sweep of the Yankees and with 46 games remaining, here's what winning the series did for them in the standings, which really start to matter. They did not pick up ground on Houston in the AL West. While they technically gained a half-game in the wild card standings, it was a net loss.
Rangers
Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.
SIGN UP
Or with:
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Wednesday's loss gave the Yankees, the team currently holding the final spot, the head-to-head tiebreaker, based on season series record. That's worth the equivalent of a game. Seattle, which sits just ahead of the Yankees, also owns the tiebreaker against the Rangers. Ties definitely don't go to the Rangers. Oh, and by the end of the day, they'd actually slipped behind Cleveland as first bubble team "out." The Guardians, who have yet to play any games against the Rangers this year, are .001 ahead of them in win percentage. The Rangers, who have the seventh-worst road record in baseball (24-35), end the season at Cleveland.
All of this left manager Bruce Bochy unmoved. Winning a series is winning a series. If the Rangers do the equivalent of that for the rest of the year, they'll still get close to 90 wins. And it can't be lost that the Rangers came from behind to win on Monday and got near-perfect pitching from Nathan Eovaldi to win Tuesday.
Advertisement
"This was a good series, a hard-fought series," he said afterwards. "It's hard to take all three from a team. We had the winning run on base in the ninth inning and just couldn't get one more hit. No, we take a lot of good things away from this series."
But there were things to pay attention to, as well. And they mostly end with "Garcia" or "García."
Garcia, the lefty reliever, entered a tie game in the seventh to face the bottom of the Yankees lineup, knowing that Goldschmidt was available as a pinch hitter. Goldschmidt is second in baseball in OPS against lefties. He terrorizes them. Not exactly the "soft landing spot," Bochy envisioned when the erstwhile closer gave up homers in back-to-back outings in Seattle over the weekend.
Advertisement
The Rangers chose not to walk Goldschmidt and put the winning run on in a tie game. García went after him, getting ahead with three offspeed pitches up and away. At 0-2, though, he came inside with a fastball. Goldschmidt drove it into the left field seats.
Advertisement
"We try not to put the winning run on base there," Bochy said. "You've got to believe in your pitcher that he's gonna make his pitch. He had an 0-2 count there. Goldschmidt just put a good swing on a pitch."
It was the third consecutive game in which Garcia has given up a homer that resulted in the opponent either taking a lead or tying the game.
Advertisement
Asked where he stood on Garcia after the game, Bochy offered support.
"Where do I stand? I'm staying behind him. He's a big part of this bullpen. We try not to get too down on these guys after a rough game or a couple of rough outings. He's been a big part of the games we've won. So he'll continue to go out there."
As for García, the answers were basically the same. When asked if the Rangers were considering making any moves in the No. 4 spot, where they began the day 29th in the majors in batting average (.215) and last in OPS (.631), Bochy pointed out García's strong performance on Tuesday when his eighth-inning double started the game-winning two-run rally.
"We've had different guys hit there," Bochy said. "He helped us win a ball game yesterday."
Advertisement
Over the longer period, though, García, who has batted fourth in every game since June 28, is hitting only .209/.248/.376/.624 in the spot in that run. Since the All-Star break: it's .184/.225/.342/.567.
It's not like any of the Rangers' other options have been significantly more productive. The only hitter with an OPS above .700 in the No. 4 spot this season is Marcus Semien, who moved from the No. 4 spot to No. 3 in late June, because it's considered a position of higher importance than the cleanup spot. That moved García back to No. 4.
On Wednesday, he flew out in the third with two outs and a runner on third. In the fifth, he bounced into an inning-ending fielder's choice after Semien had tied the game with a sacrifice fly. In the seventh, he flew out again with the bases loaded. In the ninth, he came to the plate against tiring David Bednar with two on and two outs after Corey Seager worked a walk and Marcus Semien poked a single to the right side.
He took a fastball in the upper third of the plate to start the at-bat, then fouled off a fastball in the heart of the zone at 2-2. He fouled off a curveball below the zone to stay alive, but missed Bednar's bottom-of-the-zone splitter - his 42nd pitch of the game to end it.
Advertisement
It ended a series the Rangers won, yet showed how even when this team wins series now, it can lose where it matters - in the standings.
Related StoriesView MoreRangers' Jack Leiter has elite stuff, but command is still very much a work in progressTexas Rangers' Robert Garcia bitten by long ball again as Yankees avoid sweep
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.