'We Have To Get Better': Chris Woodward Sounds Off On Rangers' Lack Of Grit, Toughness

The Texas Rangers have dropped 10 of their last 11 games, and manager Chris Woodward has had enough.

Chris Halicke | Jun 6, 2021

Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward is a pretty even keeled guy. It's not often you see the Rangers skipper show a ton of emotion. But after his team lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 7-1, he reached a boiling point.

But first, allow me to set the scene.

The Rangers manufactured a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and kept the Rays off the board for the first seven innings of the ballgame on the strength of five scoreless innings from Dane Dunning and two more from Taylor Hearn.

Then the wheels fell off.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa committed two errors in the final two innings that extended the Rays' chances of adding runs, with which they had no problem. They put up three runs in the eighth inning, and added four more in the ninth inning.

But that's not what drove Woodward to show more frustration in a public setting than he has since his tenure as the club's manager began in 2019.

Here is the full quote from the Rangers skipper:

"I was hoping someone would ask me about that. I pulled Kiner aside before his last at-bat and said, 'Listen, you didn't lose this game.' This guy has been the best shortstop in baseball. He's been our heart and soul everyday. This guy competes harder than anybody. And I hate that that's going to be the narrative. And I want everybody on this Zoom call to say this: We lost that game well before that. It was frustrating, yes. Should we have made a play there? Yes. And he'll be the first to tell you. He'll take ownership, he's already taken ownership right now. He shouldn't go home feeling like he lost us the game. I feel like there were so many at-bats early in the game we gave away. We had guys on base. We just did not come — we've gotta get better. We've gotta get better. And I can point to some of their at-bats in critical moments where they fouled off a certain pitch. They fought to get to two strikes. And we didn't. And we have the personnel to do it. We have to get better. And that's something that — it was 1-0 going into the eighth inning. I get it. All it took was one missed play, and they took advantage. A little dribbler down the third base line, and that's all it took. They're a good team. They're just going to keep coming at you. Did we not make some pitches? Did we not execute? Of course. But we lost that game well before that eighth inning. So, I want everybody to know that. Kiner will take it hard. I told him, 'You don't deserve that, man.' That was a team loss. We lost that game well before he did that."

The Rangers are in the middle of a stretch where they've lost 10 of their last 11 games, and the offense has mustered only 2.5 runs per game in the previous nine contests. This was also a .500 team 36 games into the season, but since then, they are a putrid 5-20.

"We have good ballplayers here," Woodward said. "We're just not performing the way we should. We don't have the scratch-and-claw or the grit."

Woodward pointed to a specific example of what he's talking about, and all he had to do is look at the team across the diamond.

"The Brosseau at-bat against King," Woodward explained. "He gets to 3-2, and he gets a 3-2 changeup that's 10-15 mph slower than the fastball he just saw, and he fouled it off which led to a walk. Some of our guys will swing through that. We have to get better in those spots. We can't just give away and give in because we're looking for a fastball with two strikes. We've gotta get a little bit more fight in us. We've gotta get a little tougher in our at-bats."

Woodward added: "I know these guys are working, and I always back these guys to no end. It probably nauseates a lot of people because I stress how hard they're working even though they're not having a ton of results lately. But at the same time, your swing is your swing. If you're working on things, that's outside of — when you step between the lines, you're a ballplayer. You have to be tougher. You have to just grind and fight and do whatever it takes. We can't go down as easy at times. We know our weaknesses. We know what they're going to do to us. Let's try to beat it. They're still gonna get you. It's hard to hit. I get it. But when I see a lack of, I think toughness is the right word. I don't know what the right word is, but we've gotta get a lot better in those spots."

The road doesn't get any easier for Texas.

The Rangers will have 24 hours to chew on this series before the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants come to town for a two-game series. Then it's off to Los Angeles to face the defending World Series champion Dodgers for three games, then they'll stop in Houston for two games before coming back home again.

"I don't care who we play," Woodward said. "Bring on the '27 Yankees. I don't care. I just want to see our guys play their best."

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Published Jun 6, 2021

CHRIS HALICKE