Rangers Lose to Rays in Extras to End Home Winning Streak

Tampa Bay needed two extra innings to claim its first victory over Texas in this four-game series

Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward said that when the Rangers get over .500 “that’ll be a weight off our shoulders.”

Well, the “weight” isn’t off quite yet, as the Rangers blew a 2-0 lead in the final three innings to fall to the Rays 4-3 in 11 innings on Wednesday night. With the loss, the Rangers fell back to a game below .500 (24-25) and saw their six-game home winning streak come to an end as they enter their series finale with the Rays at 1:05 p.m. on Thursday.

“We owe them,” Woodward said Tuesday night. “We owe them something to cheer for.”

The Rangers fans that stuck around for the final inning didn’t get it.

In the top of the 11th, the Rays took a 4-3 lead after Ji-Man Choi’s RBI double to right scored Harold Ramirez from second. During Choi’s at-bat, Rays manager Kevin Cash was thrown out of the game for arguing a strike call.

Rays reliever Matt Wisler worked around the baserunner that started at second base for the Rangers in the bottom of the 11th, retiring the side in order, capping it off with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Jonah Heim.

In the 10th inning, the teams traded runs to remain tied at 3-3. The Rays’ Brett Phillips drove home Vidal Bruján to give the Rays a temporary lead, before the Rangers tied it up in the bottom half on Adolis García’s RBI single. The Rangers left the bases loaded in an attempt to win the game. 

The game was tied going into the ninth inning after the Rays erased a 2-0 Rangers lead. A Randy Arozarena solo home run off Rangers starter Jon Gray in the seventh, followed by a Ramirez RBI single in the eighth off Rangers reliever John King, ended up giving Gray a no-decision for his best outing of the season.

The Rangers collected a run in the second and fourth innings. Huff, who started at catcher a night after starting at first base, took the first pitch from Rays starter Jeffery Springs into the left-field seats for a solo home run in the second, and his first home run of the year. The Rangers stranded two runners later in the inning.

In the fourth, Nathaniel Lowe hit a home run into right field to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

Before the Rays’ rally, the Rangers provided a carryover from Tuesday night’s 3-0 victory in which Martin Pérez cemented his Rangers Pitcher of the Month credentials for May. After Pérez was hit in the shin by a Taylor Walls line drive with two outs in the second inning, he didn’t give up another baserunner. Neither did the two relievers that came in behind him.

Gray kept it going. The right-hander has struggled in the early innings of his outings since returning from the injured list in May. But that wasn’t the case on Wednesday. He retired the first eight hitters he faced — five on strikeouts — before giving up a single up the middle to the Rays’ Vidal Bruján in the third inning.

That ended a streak of 30 straight Rays retired by Rangers pitching. Per Elias Sports Bureau, the Rangers last had a stretch like that on June 15-16, 2016, at Oakland, when the Rangers retired 33 straight Athletics.

Gray had his best start of the season, going seven innings, after two straight starts in which he pitched six innings. Gray gave up one run, three hits, one walks and struck out a season-high 12. 

The 12 strikeouts are the most ever by a Rangers pitcher at Globe Life Field and is the most by a Rangers pitcher since Lance Lynn did it on Sept. 22, 2019. It was also the fourth time Gray had at least 12 strikeouts in a game.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.