Mistakes Cost Rangers in 4-3 Loss To Toronto

A rough first inning put the Rangers in a hole early, and the bullpen gave up another costly run with two outs late in Saturday's loss to Toronto.

The Texas Rangers dropped to 0-2 in the brand new season, losing to the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 4-3.

In a flip from Friday's season opener, Toronto jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning while the Rangers were kept quiet the first time through the order. However, after Jonah Heim and Brad Miller led off the third inning with back-to-back singles, Marcus Semien came through with his first hit as a Ranger—an RBI double down the left field line.

Corey Seager, who had his second straight two-hit game, tied the game with an RBI groundout. Nathaniel Lowe then recorded his third RBI single of the season, giving Texas a 3-2 lead.

Rangers starter Dane Dunning faced adversity early. There were a couple mistakes behind Dunning in the opening frame, both by Andy Ibáñez at third base. First, Ibáñez failed to field a bouncer off the bat of George Springer to lead off the inning, which was surprisingly ruled a hit. Then, Ibáñez hard a hard time getting the ball out of his glove on a potential double play that could have ended the inning with only one run scoring instead of two.

After the first inning, Dunning settled in with three scoreless frames.  However, in the fifth inning, Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette mashed a towering home run off Dunning to tie the game, 3-3.

Brett Martin relieved Dunning and got two outs in the sixth, but gave up the go-ahead run on a pinch-hit RBI double by Santiago Espinal.

Andy Ibáñez

Marcus Semien

Dane Dunning

Of the 14 runs the Rangers have surrendered this season, seven of them have come with two outs.

The duo of Spencer Patton—who was just recalled Saturday after Jon Gray went on the 10-day Injured List—and Matt Bush did a fine job out of the Rangers bullpen to keep the team in the game, combining for 2 1/3 scoreless innings the rest of the way.

It may be baby steps for an unproven pitching staff, but Saturday's performance was much better than Friday.

"I thought we pitched really well," said manager Chris Woodward. "A few mistakes cost us."

The Rangers offense could have easily put up more than three runs, but several hard hit balls found gloves in the field. In the first inning, Adolis García hit a line drive that likely would have driven in a run, but was caught by a diving Cavan Biggio.

Willie Calhoun, who is still searching for his first base hit of the season, hit two balls hard, but were caught by Springer in center field.

"He's just gotta stay with it, especially on a swing like that where he's hitting it to the middle of the field on a line," said Woodward. "That's where his sweet spot is."

What's Next?

The Rangers will try to avoid the sweep in Toronto on Sunday afternoon. Lefty Hyun Jin Ryu will take the ball for the Blue Jays while Texas has yet to officially announce the starter. Spencer Howard's spot in the rotation will be used, but it's undetermined whether the Rangers will pair him with an opener or piggyback.