Shawn McFarland: Final loss of Rangers' ugly sweep vs. Twins could fill bingo card of Texas' usual mistakes

ARLINGTON, Texas - The first inning was lopsided, the starter exited early, the offense finished hitless in leverage moments and another team with a record under .500 left victorious.

Please, if you could, check your Rangers-branded bingo cards.

One of you must've had this one.

The Rangers, who lost, 9-3, to the Minnesota Twins at Globe Life Field Thursday afternoon, have already seen some combination of that exact alignment of circumstances on theirs. Thursday's loss - in which right-handed pitcher Jack Leiter allowed four first-inning runs and secured a fifth loss in the team's last six games - was the fourth time in the last seven days that the Rangers allowed multiple runs in the game's first frame and failed to rally from the deficit.

Their 7.05 ERA in the first inning of games this season is the highest in baseball.

"The first inning, I don't know if it's becoming a thing mentally, maybe, but it's something that we've got to continue to address," Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. "We're playing from behind too often, and it's tough to play catch-up."

It's statistically a hapless pursuit if this team's body of work can be taken as proof. They are now 0-15 when they allow multiple first-inning runs and are a bottom-third offense leaguewide when behind in games. Three late home runs hit by left fielder Wyatt Langford, shortstop Ezequiel Duran and pinch hitter Justin Foscue represented their greatest attempt at a rally Thursday afternoon. They finished 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and, in the three-game series, finished 0 for 18 in those situations.

Schumaker acknowledged that it's difficult for a lineup to be on the attack and aggressive when stuck with an immediate deficit. The intent when behind becomes to see pitches, wear on the opponent's starter and "give the starting pitcher and your defense a little bit of a break by having some quality at-bats."

"If you don't put up a zero it's tough to be on the attack on the offensive side," Schumaker said. "Our starters have really good stuff, they're really good pitchers and the strength of our ballclub is based around our starting pitching. We have really, really quality starters. Putting up a zero in the first or second inning isn't some crazy thought, and that's why I think it's become a mental thing more than anything, and maybe even on the offensive side, too, if we give up a couple."

They'll argue that it shouldn't be a crazy thought to erase that marginal of a deficit.

"Four-nothing shouldn't be something you're scared of," Rangers first baseman Jake Burger, the only everyday position player in the clubhouse when it opened after Thursday's game, said, "especially in the first frame. Now, when it gets to seven, eight, you definitely feel it more. When you're in an eight-run deficit it definitely is tough to feel like you're in the game. When you're 4-0 in the first frame, you have nine frames, there shouldn't be any panic. I know I'm not. It doesn't feel like that as a collective as well."

If panic isn't the correct word, then predictable, probable or premonition might suffice. The Rangers lost all three games vs. the Twins and played from behind in each because left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore, right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker and Leiter combined to allow nine runs before their offensive counterparts took a single at-bat.

Leiter allowed hard-hit singles to three of the first five Twins batters that he faced before third baseman Brooks Lee hammered a middle-middle change-up into right field for a three-run home run. He was tagged for two more runs in the fourth inning, when left fielder Trevor Larnach hit a high slider for a two-run home run, and was removed from the game before the fifth. That forced the Rangers to use four relief pitchers in the first of what is a 15-games-in-15-days stretch.

The team's starters have logged five or fewer innings in nine of their 16 games this month. Leiter, whose 5.29 ERA is the second-highest among all qualified American League starters this season, hasn't pitched more than five innings in any of his three June starts.

"I'm just not holding up my end of the bargain these last three," Leiter said. "I'm going to find it. I'm going to figure it out, but I'm definitely frustrated."

Frustration.

That may qualify as the free space on this season's bingo card.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 6:19 PM.