3 hours ago 1

79-73 – Blue balling Rangers done in by Astros, Blubaugh

The Texas Rangers scored five runs but the Houston Astros scored six runs.

Not the best time for Merrill Kelly (3IP, 6 ER) to have his worst outing of the season. Especially since the Rangers basically traded a quarter of a future rotation for him to pitch well in games exactly like this one.

Texas was sending their three best remaining healthy starting pitchers to this set with their season hopes basically on the line and so far Jack Leiter and Kelly have been outpitched by George Costanza and a dude named blueballs. It’s not great.

Down 6-0 through four innings, the Rangers did eventually have a rally in them with four runs in the eighth inning after a Cody Freeman homer earlier in the contest. But in the theme of the night, and the season pretty much, that rally only served to raise hopes momentarily as they left the tying and potential go-ahead runners in scoring position. In the ninth, they left the tying run at second base.

It is what it is, I suppose. Texas spent the entire season being frustratingly not good enough despite several aspects of the club being excellent. Frustration is pretty much the hallmark of the club this year.

Ten games left in the season unless the Rangers have the miracle of all miracles in them.

Player of the Game: Jonah Heim pinch hit and hit a two-run home run to kick off the late rally. He later singled in the ninth to put the tying run into scoring position. That run did not score, however and so here we are.

Up Next: The Rangers will have to win tomorrow’s game to win the Silver Boot. The luster of that goal has kind of lost its shine, however. RHP Jacob deGrom will pitch for Texas against RHP Cristian Javier for Houston.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from Daikin Park is scheduled for 7:10 pm CT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.