KANSAS CITY -- The Rangers dropped the series finale to the Royals, 6-4, on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, securing a series loss (1-3) and a losing road trip (2-5).
They also could potentially lose two members of the starting lineup. Second baseman Marcus Semien left Thursday’s game in the second inning due to a left foot contusion, while center fielder Evan Carter left in the eighth inning due to a right wrist contusion.
Semien fouled a ball off his foot in the first inning, but originally remained in the game, striking out in that at-bat and playing defense in the bottom half of the frame. Ezequiel Duran pinch hit for him in his second plate appearance of the day in the third inning.
“Every step I take feels like I'm stepping on a knife right now,” Semien said postgame. “I couldn't walk. I was kind of putting us in jeopardy. So I hobbled over to cut the ball off, made it play, and then I walked off the field. It’s hard enough to play 100%, so I had to come out.”
Semien got an X-ray, which came back negative, but he said he will use a walking boot for the time being. He’ll get an MRI in Arlington in the morning.
Semien -- the Rangers’ own personal Iron Man -- has played a full 162 games three times and played at least 155 games an additional five times in his 12-year big league career entering 2025. This year, he has played in 127 of Texas’ 129 games.
The last time Semien played fewer than 159 games in a full season was with the A's in 2017, when he appeared in just 85 contests due to a right wrist contusion.
“Nobody's tougher than him,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “For him to come out of the game, there's something going on. There's some big issues. We're hoping he's fine, but that's one guy we certainly can't lose. We're hoping for the best news.”
Carter, on the other hand, has been snakebitten with injuries in his young big league career. He missed much of 2024 with a back injury that eventually required offseason surgery. He also had two stints on the IL this season, including back spasms and a quad strain.
In Thursday’s loss, Carter was hit on the wrist by a 94.1 mph sinker out of the hand of Daniel Lynch IV in the seventh inning. Like Semien, he initially stayed in the game to run the bases and play defense, but eventually came out in the eighth inning.
“I’ve been hit a lot by lefties,” Carter said. “I've never been hit on the right hand, but I've been hit a lot. I had the adrenaline going and I still could play defense. I just told [the trainers] it was stiffening up on me. I got smoked and it hurts. At that point in time the game was close, you know, and [Alejandro] Osuna would have been a better at-bat than I would have been.”
Carter also got X-ray imaging, but the results hadn’t gotten back yet.
Losing either of the two would be a significant blow for the Rangers team that is dealing with a dreadful August, both in terms of game results and other injuries. Texas has lost 16 of its last 23 games since a season-high-tying six-game win streak from July 21-27. The club has also lost four straight series.
“I think every team has to deal with injuries,” Bochy said. “It's all about depth, and we're not going to use that as an excuse. I think when you just look at it as the year as a whole, the numbers aren't quite what we thought. There’s a lot of injuries all over baseball. You gotta push on. … We'd like to have the whole team out there healthy, and also everybody doing their thing. But no, it's not the reason we're not where we want to be.”