ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers collected 4 hits, all singles, and drew 1 walk in a 6-0 loss to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field. Cade Cavalli struck out 11 over 6 innings and retired the last 11 batters he faced.
Washington scored first in the third inning and never gave the lead back. Texas is 16-49 this season when the opponent scores first, a .246 winning percentage. The Rangers are 46-16 when they plate the first run of a game, regardless of inning.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said the club rarely got its leadoff hitter on base and could not string an inning together.
“We haven’t been very good at coming back from a deficit,” Schumaker said. “Early on [in the season], it felt like we could fight back. Maybe our bullpen was keeping us in games and giving us a chance to come back. But lately if we don’t score first, for whatever reason, it feels that we just haven’t been able to come back.”
Texas is 53-13 when it scores four or more runs. That .803 winning percentage ranks seventh in the majors.
Kumar Rocker Worked Around Traffic Before Washington Pulled Away
Kumar Rocker made his 22nd start of the season and threw 92 pitches over 5 innings. He gave up 6 hits and 2 runs, walked 1, and struck out 3. Rocker entered the night 4-9 with a 4.50 ERA and took the loss to fall to 4-10.
Since closing July with consecutive winning starts, Rocker is 0-2 with a 6.87 ERA across four appearances.
Schumaker said Rocker pitched out of a couple of jams.
“He threw not too many first-pitch strikes,” Schumaker explained. “He tried to fight back into the count a lot. Got out of a couple jams, which was good. He kept it tight, gave us a chance. Of course, he wants to go into the sixth and seventh inning, but he gave us a shot. That’s all I can ever ask for. We felt our offense could maybe get back into the game. Then they just kept tacking on more runs, unfortunately, and we just couldn’t get back.”
José Tena put Washington ahead with two outs in the third, driving an 0-1 sinker to center field for his seventh home run of the season. Andrés Chaparro led off the fourth with a double and scored on an RBI single to right by Keibert Ruiz.
Chaparro and Ruiz opened the sixth with singles. Jacob Young bunted them over, and Chaparro scored when Jorbit Vivas was retired on a slow roller to Cole Winn. Washington built the inning back up in the seventh on walks to Abimelec Ortiz and Tena, and after Daylen Lile grounded out, Chaparro hit his eighth home run of the year, a high fly down the left field line. Chaparro finished with 3 hits and scored 3 runs.
Cade Cavalli Struck Out 11 In Six Innings
Cavalli threw 58 of his 84 pitches for strikes and gave up 3 singles and 1 walk. It was his second straight double-digit strikeout game, six days after he struck out 10 and allowed one hit over 8 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 13. His scoreless streak reached 17 innings.
Over his past 10 starts, Cavalli is 7-1 with a 2.12 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings. He entered Wednesday 10-5 with a 3.36 ERA, 151 strikeouts, and 41 walks in 136 2/3 innings.
The first eight outs Cavalli recorded were strikeouts, and Brandon Nimmo‘s groundout ended the third. He picked up his 10th strikeout in the fourth.
Texas struck out 13 times. Corey Seager had 2 of the Rangers’ 4 hits, his third consecutive two-hit game. Texas put runners on first and second with one out in the second before Cavalli struck out Elias Díaz and Nicky Lopez. Washington pitching then retired 14 in a row between Seager’s single in the third and Díaz’s leadoff infield single in the eighth, and Díaz was the only Texas baserunner over the final 21 plate appearances.
Schumaker said he does not usually credit an opposing pitcher.
“We had five baserunners all night, so [Cavalli] was tough,” Schumaker said. “He has a lot of different weapons. I don’t generally like giving the other side credit, the other pitcher credit, but he was as good as I’ve seen in the league all year. We just couldn’t get anything going, that’s just the bottom line.”
Will Dion, Max Kranick, and Jake Bird each worked an inning to close out Washington’s fifth shutout of the season. The Nationals lead the majors with 182 home runs.
What’s Next For The Texas Rangers
Texas fell to 62-65 and out of the American League’s third wild card spot. The Rangers have lost six of eight, and they won Tuesday’s series opener 5-0.
Washington improved to 61-67 and snapped a four-game losing streak. The Nationals had lost six of seven, and Cavalli’s start against the Cubs was the only win in that stretch.
Jacob deGrom starts the series finale Thursday with an extra day of rest. He left his Aug. 13 outing against the Los Angeles Angels after 2 innings with right triceps fatigue, and he is 8-8 with a 3.95 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 120 2/3 innings across 23 starts. deGrom has 1,998 career strikeouts.
Washington starts left-hander Andrew Alvarez, who is 2-4 with a 3.72 ERA. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field on Rangers Sports Network and FS1.
