ARLINGTON -- Chris Young doesn’t necessarily need his team to play its best baseball in April or May. But he surely hoped it would be a bit better than it is right now.
When addressing the media on Friday, the Rangers president of baseball operations more than acknowledged the club’s latest offensive skid as the calendar turned to May. That skid has been weeks long at this point, culminating in a 2-1 loss to the Mariners on Saturday night at Globe Life Field. Texas has now dropped its last five series and sits at a 16-18 record going into the series finale on Sunday.
Saturday’s loss was more of the same. Rangers starter Patrick Corbin nearly had a quality start, but the Mariners had double the number of hits, and Texas ultimately went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Since an 8-2 start to the season, the Rangers have gone 8-16 over their last 24 games since April 7.
“I think this lineup was designed, collectively, to get performance out of 13 to 15 significant contributors,” Young said. “We can't run from where we are. I'm not even sure last year we were at this level of underperformance collectively as a team. That merits some level of change. It's about performance. It's not about last year. This is about what is right for the Texas Rangers right now.
“My hope is that soon, all of our guys are at their best together. If that happens, then we're a great team. But the reality is that we're not right now, so we have to start trying to effect change in a way that we can get a winning team out on the field.”
Belief is good, but hope isn’t going to produce more hits with runners in scoring position. The Rangers players are trying every day to right the ship. Maybe one big hit will open the floodgates.
“We got to get the mojo back,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “It's gone, and it hasn't been there for a while. We’re stuck right now. We get one run, two runs, no runs. They're fighting a little bit. When you get in a rut like this, that’s usually what happens. It mounts on them, and they want to do something to come through. Maybe things are a little bit tight for some of them, and it shouldn't be. A lot of these guys have done it. They'll do it again. It’s just not happening.”
Bochy has made changes over the last few weeks, adjusting the lineup, putting the hottest hitters like Josh Smith and Wyatt Langford at the top while dropping down staples like Marcus Semien and Adolis García. Center fielder Leody Taveras has been playing less and less, opening the door for a guy like Dustin Harris to get more reps.
Even the front office has shown they’re not afraid to make major decisions by optioning first baseman Jake Burger to Triple-A Round Rock to get him reset.
There’s an obvious effort -- collectively, as an organization -- to get this thing moving in the right direction.
Young repeatedly reiterated that he believes Texas is a team built to compete and win. They just have to make it happen at some point.
“Good teams go through hard times,” Young said. “It's how you handle those times that will define what this team becomes. They're working, they care, and they're going to get through this. This is about just trying to do the best thing to win baseball games at this moment. I believe in this group and where we're headed, so I don't want that to get lost.”