It looked like the Texas Rangers were able to shake off Sunday's difficult loss early on Monday in their game against the Los Angeles Angels.
But the first-inning offense and 1-2-3 inning from Ross Detwiler proved to be a mirage and not a sign of things to come as the Angels rallied back for a 6-3 victory.
Texas scored three times in the first but did nothing after that while Detwiler struggled with his location and was done in by walks a pair of homers as the Rangers lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
Detwiler (0-2, 9.00 ERA) had the offense he needed but couldn't do anything with it as the Angels scored a single run in the fourth and then got a pair of homers in the fifth from Collin Cowgill and David Freese. They were both two-run homers too as Detwiler walked two batters, with both of them scoring.
"All day again falling behind, never getting the hitters defense and that's what happens," said Detwiler. "I had command early in that first inning and then lost it and never really found it again. I think I made some good adjustments from last start and I need to see what happened from the first and second inning and go from there."
Detwiler flirted with trouble in the second and third innings before running head first into it in the fourth inning, with a double off the glove of Shin-Soo Choo allowing the Angels to score their first run and make it a 3-1 game.
While Choo said if he made the catch it may have changed the game, it may not have been enough to save Detwiler.
"The pitches that got hit for home runs were up," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "He had the arm side and glove side fastball in early. The changeup was in play early but similar to the outing before (in Oakland) with the loss of the command of the fastball."
The Rangers may have been able to get away with a wonky outing from Detwiler if the offense would have continued to hit after putting together four hits against Matt Shoemaker in the first inning. That didn't happen though as the Rangers had just three hits the rest of the way. Texas is now hitting .199 through eight games with four homers, none coming at Globe Life Park.
They'll try to rebound Tuesday with a starting lineup Monday that ended the day with six starters batting .194 or worse. Monday night they let Shoemaker off the hook.
"We were stubborn with our approach early, taking singles that was the plan," said Banister. "I believe he (Shoemaker) settled in and starting making pitches down in the zone and away. You saw the steady strikes. After the three-run first I think he retired eight in a row. We just couldn't mount anything after that."
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