ARLINGTON -- Just two weeks ago, Merrill Kelly was part of a Diamondbacks team that was selling at the Trade Deadline, shipping him and a pair of sluggers to teams who, at the time, were still in contention.
On Wednesday, Kelly stood on the mound at Globe Life Field, making his third start as a member of the Rangers and facing the D-backs against his old rotation mate Zac Gallen.
Some of Kelly’s former teammates got the better of him, including Ketel Marte, who went 3-for-3 against him, and Geraldo Perdomo, who hit a solo homer. But the newest Ranger also tossed his first quality start since joining the club, delivering six innings of two-run ball.
The Rangers played 8 2/3 innings of good baseball on Wednesday. Kelly did his job. The offense scored early and added insurance late. But with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Texas reliever Phil Maton -- who was also acquired at the Deadline -- surrendered a go-ahead three-run homer to Marte, and the Rangers fell, 6-4, to end a disappointing homestand.
It was the second time in as many days that Marte delivered the go-ahead shot with two outs in the ninth inning against the Rangers. He went 6-for-13 (.462) with two homers and six RBIs over the three-game series, single-handedly putting the nail in the Rangers' coffin.
"There's a reason why he was top three in the MVP voting [last year],” Kelly said. “What you saw today is him in a nutshell. He gets to good pitches, he gets to bad pitches. He can work the count, he can work the at-bat and punch a single on the left or hurt you with a big time moment from either side of the plate. Obviously, he proved that the last two nights. He's kind of the guy that you circle in that lineup and don't want to beat you for that reason. Unfortunately we let him beat us the last two days."
Maton had allowed just one earned run in five innings since joining Texas at the Deadline. He was scoreless in 25 of his 29 outings between the Cardinals and Rangers, dating back to May 5. He just lost it at the worst possible time on Wednesday.
That was the 23rd blown save opportunity of the year for the Rangers, which is second most in the American League (Angels, 26).
“It just got away from us there in the ninth,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “[Maton] was locked in, he had nine straight strikes, I think, and he's lost his feel there a little bit. That's a tough one, to be two outs in the ninth. Those are always tough. They sting when you lose, like we did today.”
After a 16-9 record in July to get them back into the thick of the AL Wild Card race, the Rangers have now lost four of their last five series, going 5-11 in that span. They’ve dropped to .500 (61-61) for the first time since 7/20 (50-50).
Bochy has always been a “flush it and move on” kind of manager. But there’s no denying that the last week and a half have been bleak for a team looking to make the postseason.
“We've got to bounce back,” Bochy said. “In this game, you’ve gotta be resilient. I keep talking about that. We’ve gotta put this behind us. There's baseball left, but we gotta win games.”
But to make matters almost worse, the Rangers will now travel to Toronto to face a streaking Blue Jays team that has gotten a hold of the AL East lead. At the conclusion of the game, the Rangers sit four games back of the Yankees for the final Wild Card spot. Nothing is easygoing forward for Texas going forward.
“I think [having an] off-day tomorrow is probably a good thing for us to kind of reset our minds a little bit,” said first baseman Jake Burger. “It's obviously not where we wanted to end this homestand for us. We need to have that sense of urgency to realize where we're at in the standings and the race. It's go time for us.
“We know that we need to make up some ground. We know that we need to go out there and play our best style of baseball every single night. I'm just trying to win each pitch every single night. That's the goal.”