Rangers Run into Last Season’s Issues as They Fall to Reds in Series Sweep

ARLINGTON, Texas — It was a throwback weekend for the Texas Rangers — and not in a good way.

The Rangers (4-5) lost to the Cincinnati Reds (6-3), 2-1, on Sunday and were swept for the first time this season. Texas started the season on the road and were 4-1. Now, they’re on a four-game losing streak going into Monday’s opener for a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners.

Texas had one of baseball’s worst offenses last season. After a strong start on the road, the lineup squandered three solid starting pitching performances, scored a combined four runs and their co-closers each lost a tie game in late inning work.

In other words, the series looked a lot like 2025.

“I think we were 0-for-5, 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position [on Sunday] and we just couldn’t get that big hit, you know, really all series,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said.

The Offense and the Closer

Joc Pederson’s home run. Very emotional response afterward. First home run last season was on May 10 in Detroit. pic.twitter.com/zL2nCuDBw9
— Matthew Postins (@PostinsPostcard) April 5, 2026

Joc Pederson ended an 0-for-16 slump with a solo home run that tied the game in the seventh, which came with an emphatic bat toss after the ball cleared the right field fence. He drew a walk in the following inning but was stranded when Evan Carter’s long fly ball to center field didn’t get over the fence.

For the weekend, Texas was 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

“We hit some balls hard in this ballpark,” Pederson said. “They would be hits elsewhere. I mean Evan Carter, that last one he hit, he smoked it to center field. But this is our field and we have to find ways to manufacture runs.”

Carter’s ball went 405 feet. He needed 410 feet to get over the wall at that part of Globe Life Field. He said after the game he wasn’t expecting it to clear the wall, saying he had never hit a Major League home run to center field.

“I think the quality of contact is there,” Carter said. “I think it would be unwise for us to change our decision making or our approach because I feel like we’re smoking balls right now.”

The bullpen had little margin for error with a sputtering offense. But the unit pitched well except for two critical situations. On Friday, Chris Martin surrendered a tie game in the ninth inning. On Sunday, Robert Garcia surrendered a tie game in the eighth, giving up an RBI single to Elly De La Cruz. The designated co-closer don’t have a save yet this season.

“The command was just off,” Schumaker said of Garcia. “He hadn’t pitched in four days. It all happened kind of quick.”

Just like the offense’s back-slide this weekend. With the Mariners coming to town on Monday, the Rangers need to flip the switch back just as fast.