The Texas Rangers' downward spiral continues as their offensive weakness turns into a defensive weakness

PHILADELPHIA — Before Wednesday's game, if you can call it that, Bruce Bochy was bouncing to Miley Cyrus' “Flowers” in the Rangers dugout when it bounced off the rafters of Citizens Bank Park.

“Have you ever bought flowers?” someone jokingly asked the manager.

“No,” said Bochy. “And nobody will buy them from me either.”

Well, now might be a good time to start. Because after the Phillies rubbed the Rangers' face in the sand 11-4, who could blame him for talking to himself for hours? Frankly, the Rangers made plays he couldn't understand. In total, they made four ugly mistakes en route to their ninth loss in their last eleven games.

“When you have a game like that, you have to do really well,” Bochy said. “It was ugly. There was no getting around it. We're better than that. You just have to work harder. We're a really good team and really resilient. We just have to keep our heads down and get through it. I'm not going to put them down. We just made mistakes all over the place.”

Here's the problem: It wasn't the first time this season. It wasn't even the first time in the last week. It was actually the second time they made at least three errors in the last four games. The Rangers made three errors in a game twice all of last season, hitting an American League-low 57 this year. The Rangers are less than a third of the way through the season and already have 28 errors, nearly half of their 2023 total reached.

The question is whether the Rangers' ongoing offensive problems are now spilling over onto the field. Are the guys taking their poor results at the plate onto the field?

The errors were particularly glaring. Nathaniel Lowe dropped a pitch from Corey Seager that hit the pocket of his glove. Dane Dunning blasted a pitch to second on a play when the Rangers easily fended off Brandon Marsh. They led directly to the Phillies' first two runs. Both Lowe and Dunning quickly took responsibility.

“Maybe,” Lowe said when asked if the problems on offense have spilled over to defense. “But I'd like to think a major league first baseman can make that catch. Regardless of what happens in an earlier at-bat, I should make that play. But both good and bad baseball are contagious. We just have to execute better.”

Dunning said: “I just made a really stupid move. I didn't call the shots.”

And those weren't the worst mistakes of the evening. The error came after two outs in the sixth inning when Seager ran with a runner on first base to center to catch No. 9 Johan Rojas' grounder, but then decided at the last minute to pass the ball to second baseman Marcus Semien to play, which forced a force out. Only Semien, standing in the way of Seager's line to first base, ducked away and the ball simply rolled through the infield. The Phillies ended up scoring four runs in that inning.

Four runs? That's been a Rangers offensive streak of late. No, the Rangers aren't hitting right now. It's been well documented. Their four runs on Wednesday matched the high of the last two weeks. They've gone 11 straight games without scoring more than four goals. The last time they did that: 1988. One minute ago. Even when the Rangers failed at everything else, they found ways to score.

However, there are other ways to win a game. Pitching and defense, they say. The starting pitcher was mostly good. The relief pitching work, especially in the middle innings, was not so good.

With Dunning, who spent the last three weeks on the injured list, out of breath in the fourth inning, Bochy had to resort to the difficult middle of the bullpen, which meant Jonathan Hernández and Yerry Rodríguez, both of whom tested the Rangers' resolve.

Hernández, who is out of minor league options, and Rodríguez, who has one remaining, have pitched in 21 games together this season. The first batter to face the duo hit 11 times for an on-base percentage of .524. The OPS after No. 8 batter Edmundo Sosa greeted Hernández with a three-run homer on Wednesday and Rodríguez allowed a walk was 1.348.

Bochy had previously addressed his young relievers' struggles with bringing their best performance to the mound. He had even changed their prep schedule to give them more time to be “hotter.” It did not work. It looks like nothing worked. And so, after 50 games of defending a World Series title, the Rangers are now 24-26.

“We don't want this to define us,” said Bochy. “It's not who we are. This phase will pass. What's important is how you deal with it and how you get back on your feet.”

Maybe it's time for someone to give him flowers.

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