What a difference a week makes for the Texas Rangers, the opening-week darlings of the American League.
Texas took two out of three games in its opening series against two recent world champions — the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros. Benefitting from a surprisingly robust, late-inning offense, and a bullpen that sheltered low-inning starters, the Rangers quickly turned heads.
But that changed just as quickly with a 2-4 road trip, dropping Texas from second place in the AL West to last in what is for now the toughest division in baseball.
Consider that entering Friday’s games, the AL West is on a collective 21-game winning streak.
The Rangers will try to get their second win in a row when they return home Friday night to open a three-game set with their division-rival Oakland A’s, a team that is expected to contend for the AL crown, but has needed a three-game win streak just to get a game over .500 before this weekend series.
One key area Texas thought it might have locked down when it opened the season 5-2 was at closer with Jose Leclerc. The position has been a revolving door the last few seasons, and the hard-throwing right-hander had picked up this season where he left off last, with four scoreless outings, the kind of command performances that netted him a four-year, $14 million contract during the offseason.
But on the road trip, the wheels came flying off. In the opener of the two-game set against the Diamondbacks at Arizona on Tuesday, he allowed a walk-off homer, then nearly coughed up a four-run lead Wednesday. He allowed the first three batters to get on base, hitting two batters on consecutive fastballs and he walked in a run, exiting without retiring a batter.
Instead of a bounce-back outing, Leclerc was sent to the showers.
For a club that has shaky starting pitching at best, the Rangers are going to depend heavily on Leclerc to rack up saves.
“There’s always a level of concern when it’s your best pitcher,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward told reporters following Texas’ 5-2 win at Arizona. “And that’s what he is, our best pitcher. We will dig into it and get him right, whether it’s mental or physical. He wants the ball and I wanted to give it back to him. Now, maybe we can make an adjustment and get it right.”
The A’s come to Arlington swinging hot bats. In consecutive wins against the Orioles, they bashed five home runs, and now have 17 homers in their last five games.
Khris Davis hit two more home runs in Thursday’s 8-5 win, giving him a big-league-best nine this season.
“When he gets going, he puts on a show,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told reporters after Thursday’s getaway game in Baltimore. “We’ve seen him go on some runs similar to these. A lot of times, they end up being big home runs, too.”
Davis and the slugging A’s will be a lot to handle on Friday for Rangers starter Drew Smyly (0-1), a left-hander who has surrendered two home runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. The A’s will start right-hander Mike Fiers (2-1).
