BOSTON -- Jack Leiter was battling from the very first batter he faced on Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park.
The 25-year-old hit Jarren Duran with a pitch and then walked Rafael Devers after a nine-pitch battle. Leiter got three quick flyouts to eventually end the inning clean, but it wasn’t quite enough to save the day.
Leiter shouldered the loss as the Rangers fell, 5-0, to the Red Sox. Texas dropped its sixth consecutive series as the offensive struggles persist. But Leiter’s third start since coming off the injured list also felt like more of the same.
“I felt good, physically, mentally and I felt like preparation was all there,” Leiter said. “I got off to a start of mishaps and giving them free bases, and that kind of cost me. The walks, the hit by pitch, the wild pitch, it’s just unfortunate, especially after those first innings. After that, the goal flips from dominating as best as you can to just getting deep in the game and giving your team as much of a chance. Unfortunately, I didn't give the team as much of a chance as I could have.”
There are no moral victories in this game, but as Leiter struggled a bit with his command -- issuing four walks and hitting a batter -- it genuinely could've gone much worse. It likely would have if this were 2024, when he often let things spiral in in starts like this.
Instead, Leiter buckled down after allowing two runs in the second and retired the next seven batters he faced through the fourth inning. He allowed one run in the fifth and sixth frames.
“He did regroup,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That's a sign of maturing as a pitcher. He knew we needed some length there, and so he did a nice job of bouncing back.”
“I think kind of mentally and physically, there was a good find in that third inning,” Leiter added. “I was attacking guys, getting in better counts and finishing at-bats a lot quicker. Obviously, that's what I'm hoping to do from pitch one, instead of having to kind of climb out of a hole that I dug for myself.”
Leiter ultimately allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings. It was a battle against himself more than a battle against the Red Sox, as they only mustered three hits off of him.
Each of Leiter’s four walks, as well as the hit-by-pitch, came in two-strike counts. Two of those walks came when he was up, 2-1, in the count.
“Jack had good stuff,” Bochy said. “He's getting ahead, he’s getting two strikes on a lot of hitters that he lost. He’s not like he's falling behind, he’s just having trouble putting hitters away. Maybe he's trying to make too quality of a pitch, things like that. It’s not like he's really wild out there, but he's letting them get back into count. That's what you want to stay away from. You just have to stay in attack mode.”
Leiter was arguably the Rangers’ best pitcher before going on the injured list with a blister on his throwing hand, allowing just one run in his first two starts, good for a 0.90 ERA while logging 10 strikeouts against one walk over that span.
He’s struggled with his command since returning, walking 10 batters in 13 innings in those three starts. His ERA has ballooned to 5.09 over that time.
The put away pitches are going to be the biggest separator for Leiter moving forward. He’s not wild and erratic. He’s typically throwing strikes. He’s just got to be able to make one more pitch for each batter he faces.
“It's just a mindset,” Leiter said. “It’s about staying on the attack, staying aggressive, even in those two-strike counts. It’s not necessarily chasing that swing and miss, which I tend to do at times. I did it today earlier in the game. It kind of showed because of the deep counts. That's kind of just something that ebbs and flows, but I can make better pitches from pitch one. ... Similar to us as a team, I think things will turn around and we’ll start firing on all cylinders.”