Rangers' Phil Maton Explains What Went Wrong for Him in Latest Gut-Punch Loss

It was an outing to forget for Phil Maton in the Texas Rangers' latest tough loss.

Aug 11, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Phil Maton (88) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the tenth inning at Globe Life Field | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

All season long, everyone has been waiting for the Texas Rangers to flip a switch.

Following a strong offseason where they upgraded the weak spots on their roster and got key guys back healthy after plenty missed a good chunk of last year, the sky was expected to be the limit for this Rangers squad that had just won the World Series in 2023.

But they got out of the gates slowly.

And they kept running slowly.

And now they are at the point in mid-August where they are a .500 team and are staring down the possibility of missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Texas' last game was a microcosm of their entire campaign, with the offense not doing enough to help out a strong starting pitching performance which resulted in another late-innings heartbreaker.

This time, it was Phil Maton on the mound.

Acquired ahead of the trade deadline to give this bullpen another formidable arm, he has been excellent during the early portion of his Rangers tenure with the only real blemish on his resume coming on Wednesday when he blew the save by giving up two homers in the ninth inning.

Maton Explains What Went Wrong During His Performance

Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the right-hander first gave up a solo home run before hitting the next batter with a pitch, walking the batter after that and then allowing a three-run blast.

"Just complete loss of feel for the curveball and the cutter in zone," he said," per Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required). "Losing my primary weapons, just obviously a spiral happened after that."

It was pretty shocking to see that happen.

Called upon with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Maton struck out Tyler Locklear to end the frame and keep Texas' advantage at 3-2.

Then, after he trotted back out there for the ninth, he looked dominant again by ringing up two more batters to put the Rangers one out away from finishing the game.

What happened after that took place in a hurry.

Ketel Marte's 4th hit of the game is a GO-AHEAD HOMER in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/CTKCGlxRU1

— MLB (@MLB) August 13, 2025

Maton missed two pitches to James McCann; a sweeper off the left side of the plate and a sinker down in the zone before hanging a sweeper that was hit 361 feet over the left field wall.

He then missed his next sinker up and in before throwing a cutter right down the middle that was swung on and missed before losing control of his curveball and hitting Blaise Alexander high and inside on the third pitch of that at-bat.

After that, Maton wasn't even close to the zone, missing on four straight pitches to issue a walk: a cutter way high and inside, another cutter high and inside, his sinker inside and his sweeper down and away.

Then, after looping a curveball in for strike one against Ketel Marte, he missed with his cutter high and inside before hanging another curveball that was belted 413 feet to right center field which handed the Rangers another gut-punch loss.

Texas is running out of time to make a run, especially after losing those types of games.