Kelly suffers back-to-back losses for first time since '23

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly at the Trade Deadline, fortifying what was already the best rotation in baseball at the time in the hopes that he could help carry them on a postseason run.

That was exciting for Kelly at the time, even though he was leaving the only organization he had ever played a Major League game with.

Since the Deadline, it’s been a roller coaster at his new home. After getting back to within a game of an AL Wild Card spot just last week, the Rangers have plummeted in the standings with just six games left to play.

The Rangers fell, 4-2, to the Marlins on Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field, extending their losing streak to seven games and practically putting the postseason out of reach. Kelly -- who was acquired with the express purpose of helping Texas get there -- was tagged with the loss as Miami completed the sweep in Arlington.

Kelly was charged with a loss in back-to-back outings for the first time since April of 2023. This marked just the second time in his career with consecutive starts of 4 1/3 or fewer innings (2019).

“I definitely wanted to stop the bleeding,” Kelly said. “Baseball is a crazy game. We go from winning six in a row to losing seven in a row. But at this point of the year, we just need to show up and keep putting a good product out for the fans and keep trying to win this last week.”

With the loss, the Rangers officially fell out of contention in the American League West standings (7.5 GB with 6 G remaining), marking the club’s ninth straight year without a division title (since 2017). The losing streak has also put them on the brink of elimination for the final AL Wild Card slot.

“I think the most frustrating part is that we clawed back so well,” Kelly said. “We put together a lot of good games. We put ourselves in such a good position just to turn around and kind of give it away. My time here has been up and down. I think with how hard we fought to put us in a spot where we could really end the season on something special. To turn around and get swept in Houston, and then obviously get swept here is probably the most frustrating part.”

To Kelly’s point, just seven days ago, the Rangers lost an extra-inning contest to the Mets at Citi Field, snapping a six-game winning streak. But even with that loss, they were going into Houston three games behind the Mariners in the American League West and two games behind the Astros for the third and final Wild Card spot.

For all intents and purposes, things were looking up.

Instead, that loss in New York would be the first in this current seven-game losing streak that has included sweeps at the hands of the Astros and Marlins.

“I don't know if anything's really shifted in the clubhouse,” Kelly said. “I think the guys are pretty much the same. Obviously, we know where we're at in the season. I think Houston, obviously, is the big one. That was kind of the make or break series for us. And obviously we didn't handle business. After that, the hill became a lot steeper. I think the Houston series was kind of a telling point of where we were going to end up.”

The Rangers showed tremendous resolve for weeks leading up to this losing streak. In a matter of days in late August, they lost Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Evan Carter and Nathan Eovaldi to injuries that have sidelined them for much of September, as well Adolis García and Jake Burger for minimal amounts of time.

The group of young guys that came up in their place -- Cody Freeman, Michael Helman, Alejandro Osuna and Dustin Harris -- did their part to keep things afloat. They basically carried the Rangers all the way up until they couldn't anymore.

“I think when you take a step back -- obviously nothing against the young guys that we have that have been playing really well -- but I bet there's something to be said about like would that stay consistent, right?” Kelly said. “I think it's tough sledding when you have one of your top starters out, when you have your star shortstop, star second baseman out. I think that's a heavy load to put on the young guys at one time.

“Again, to put that much emphasis on those guys at the same time is a heavy load for them to carry. Nobody could have anticipated losing seven after how well we were playing. But that's kind of the funny slash terrible part about baseball.”