Rangers' wild-card path tightens after 10-inning loss to Rays

ARLINGTON - The Texas Rangers keep finding ways to stay in the American League conversation, and keep finding late innings that push them farther from the cut line.

Saturday's 6-3, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Globe Life Field dropped Texas to 70-73, three games behind Houston in the AL West and two games behind the clubs holding the final wild-card position, according to The Associated Press.

Jonathan Aranda's three-run homer off closer Jacob Latz ended it. Taylor Walls sacrificed automatic runner Jorge Mateo to third, Latz intentionally walked Yandy Díaz, and Aranda drove a two-strike pitch into the home bullpen beyond right field, the AP reported. Tyler Wells worked two scoreless innings for the win. The Rays improved to 85-57, the best record in the American League.

How Texas got to extras

Jacob deGrom worked six innings and allowed both of Tampa Bay's early solo home runs - Junior Caminero in the first and Richie Palacios in the fifth - while striking out seven and walking one. The AP noted deGrom has allowed a major league-high 10 first-inning home runs this season, with a 9.00 ERA in those frames and a 2.79 mark afterward.

Joc Pederson's solo shot, his team-high 25th, cut the deficit in the sixth. Texas finally tied it in the eighth when Evan Carter led off with a home run and Justin Foscue doubled home pinch-runner Cam Cauley after Danny Jansen's single, per the AP and Lone Star Ball's game account. With Foscue in scoring position, Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford both grounded out.

Latz needed only nine pitches for a clean ninth, then could not finish the 10th.

Texas went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded the automatic runner in the bottom of the 10th, Lone Star Ball reported.

Standings math with three weeks left

Sports Illustrated's Rangers notebook framed the night as another missed chance to gain ground on either race. Houston also lost in extras Saturday, to Arizona, but the Astros' magic number to eliminate Texas from the division race still moved because of the Rangers' defeat.

With Houston holding the tiebreaker, Texas would need to outgain the Astros by four wins down the stretch to flip the West - a climb that looks steeper than the wild-card chase.

That wild-card picture is compressed. Toronto and Cleveland sat at 72-71 for the final berth in SI's Saturday snapshot, with Texas two back and Baltimore three back. All four clubs carried a magic number of 20 in that accounting.

Texas still has a three-game set with Toronto later this month, a direct swing series that could decide whether the defending American League champions are sellers of September hope or October participants.

Sunday before the road

Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (8-10, 4.31) was listed to start Sunday afternoon's series finale, with Tampa Bay's starter unannounced at the time of the AP wrap. First pitch was scheduled for 1:35 p.m. CT on the Rangers' regional network. After Sunday, Texas leaves Arlington for a road stretch that has been difficult in recent weeks.

Two straight losses to the league's hottest club have not mathematically ended the Rangers' season. They have shortened the margin for the kind of soft series Texas can no longer afford if the wild-card door is going to stay open.

Sources

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/aranda-hits-3-run-homer-in-the-10th-to-give-rays-a-win-over-the-rangers/4073282/

https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/onsi/rangers-magic-number-texas-loses-al-playoff-race-holds-in-place

https://www.lonestarball.com/rangers-mlb-game-day-thread/93541/texas-rangers-extend-suffering-with-loss-to-tampa-bay-rays-in-extra-innings