Texas Rangers Closer Calls Road Trip Ending 'Series of Unfortunate Events'

The Texas Rangers defense let them down repeatedly on the 2-4 road trip in northern California.

Apr 27, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Texas Rangers first baseman Jake Burger (21) extends for an errant throw as San Francisco Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos (17) runs toward first base during the ninth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images / Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

A long-held belief in baseball is that pitching and defense win championships. The Texas Rangers have held up the front end of that deal all season.

The second part? Not so much lately.

On the just completed six-game swing through northern California, defense let the Rangers down in the finale of each series. Texas was in position to claim the rubber match of the three-game sets against the Athletics and San Francisco Giants, only to come up short thanks, in part, to miscues in the field.

The Rangers lost both series 2-1 and returned to Arlington 15-13 to open a seven-game homestand against the A’s on Monday night at Globe Life Field.

“Tough series. Tough road trip,” manager Bruce Bochy said Sunday, according to MLB.com. “We got walked off, what, three times? That’s always a tough deal. In this game you’ve got to be resilient, though.”

Leody Taveras took the blame in Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the A’s. The center fielder’s error in the ninth allowed the tying run to score, setting the table for the Athletics’ walkoff win.

The comedy of errors were at another level in Sunday’s 3-2 setback at the Giants. San Francisco’s Heliot Ramos rounded the bases on an infield single and two errors by the Rangers in the ninth for a Little League home run, effectively wasting another strong effort by Texas pitchers.

Rangers closer Luke Jackson, fielding a softly hit ball by Ramos, and first baseman Jake Burger both made wild throws on the game-deciding play.

“It was quite literally Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events,” Jackson said, according to MLB.com.

The Rangers made three errors Sunday, pushing their season total to 15, which is tied for 17th in baseball. It’s not as if the defense has let Texas down throughout the first 28 games -- the Rangers are fourth overall in defensive runs saved (DRS) with 14, per Fielding Bible.

The Rangers could withstand a miscue or two if the bats were producing at an acceptable level. As much as pitching and defense are key, teams need to score runs.

Texas scored two runs in all three game against the Giants, getting walked off in the last two days. That lack of offense magnifies any mistakes made in the field.  

“We’re going to bounce back,” Bochy said, according to MLB.com. “During the course of a season you’re going to have stretches where things don’t go right and you lose tough ones. The good clubs, they bounce back. You get home and regroup and see if we can start putting more runs on the board.”

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