San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Woes in back of rotation strain top pitchers
NEW YORK — This is how it goes in the foundering back of the Rangers’ rotation: They seem to settle on a No. 5 starter, and with a whoosh a leak comes pouring in through the No. 4 spot. All the while it leaves the dynamic duo at the top to paddle for their lives.
On Friday against the New York Mets, Glenn Otto made his second start since returning from the COVID list. He immediately flirted with trouble for a while, then decided to enter into a committed relationship with it. The result: A short outing, a 4-3 loss to the Mets and more questions about how the Rangers can fill out the rotation.
Otto allowed free bases in each of the first three innings, then did more of the same in the fourth before No. 8 hitter Eduardo Escobar clobbered a poorly executed sinking fastball for a three-run gamechanging homer.
In four innings, Otto threw more balls (34) than strikes (32). It was the fewest number of strikes thrown by a pitcher in a start of at least 60 pitches this season. This is not how you lock down a spot in the starting rotation.
“He’s got to pitch better; he knows that,” manager Chris Woodward said. “I think we expect more. He’s got really good stuff. He knows he needs to improve, and he’s open to that. He puts in the work. He puts in the time. He’s coachable. He came out of the game and started immediately
talking through it. He prepares himself to go back out and give us a good start the next time out. That’s what we expect. We expect guys to continue to get better.”
Friday’s outing comes on the heels of his two-inning, six-run start against a woeful Washington team in his return from a three-week stint on the COVID IL. He was not sharp. The Rangers were prepared to wipe that one from the record.
With the season at a critical juncture, though, the question is how often the Rangers can afford to do this dance. They’ve already removed Spencer Howard and Taylor Hearn from the rotation once. They are about to give Howard another chance.
The guys at the top of the minor league prospect list have struggled.
It has gotten to this point: When asked this week if Cole Ragans, after three starts at Triple-A, was on the radar for a big league look this season, president of Baseball Operations Jon Daniels said he was.
“We’ve talked about it,” Daniels said. “He’s made himself an option. We’d like to give him more time to develop. But if he keeps pitching like he has, we will continue to consider it.”
The Rangers have have stayed within sight of .500 due to the heavy lifting of Martín Pérez and Jon Gray. They are 8-3 when Pérez or Gray start since June 1, 4-15 when anybody else does. Pérez and Gray will start the final two games of the Mets series, both on four days’ rest. The Rangers opted not to give them an extra day of rest after Thursday’s scheduled off day. Check that: “Opted” isn’t the right word. They simply can’t afford to.
This was Otto’s night: In the first, he allowed a pair of twoout baserunners on a walk and a single, then struck out Jeff McNeil for his only strikeout of the game. In the second, he hit
Mark Canha with the second pitch of the inning, then got a double play and a fly out on the next two pitches. In the third, he walked No. 9 hitter James McCann, only to get his second double play of the game.
But eventually, this catches up to you. To wit, the fourth. Otto allowed three of the first four batters to reach, erasing a 1-0 lead that had been formed by Marcus Semien’s third-inning homer. With the infield drawnin, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe smothered Luis Guillorme’s grounder and checked the runner for the second out.
On the brink of escaping the inning, Otto immediately dug another hole. Against Escobar, who had reached base six times in his previous 48 plate appearances (.125 OBP), Otto fell behind 3-0 before getting a couple of called strikes to run the count full.
Not a good time to leave a sinker over the heart of the plate. Escobar drove it into the right field seats for a three-run homer so definitive, hardcharging right fielder Adolis García just turned to watch it.
“For all the trouble I caused myself and got out of, it came down to one bad pitch, one bad decision,” Otto said. “I’ve got to make my pitch there and not give in. I just made it a lot harder on myself.”
With the threat of perhaps the season starting to drift away, the Rangers will turn to Pérez and Gray again on the weekend, hoping they can paddle them back close enough to shore. Man, their arms must be getting tired.