The Texas Rangers hold the worst record in baseball and the Atlanta Braves are fighting for their playoff lives, so the pressure entering the series was lopsided. Three games down in the wildcard race, the Braves needed this game -- and this series -- more than ever. However, a 3-2 loss derailed those plans. Here are three observations from the game:
The Rangers, owners of the worst record in baseball and a team that fired its manager midseason, have won just 14 series during the 2014 season. Only four have come since the All-Star break, when the team has almost completely imploded, posting a 1-9 record in the lead up to the Braves series. Of course, the Braves became one of the Rangers' few second-half victims with a lackluster offensive effort in Arlington, wasting a dominant pitching performance for the second straight night to drop the three-game set and put their playoff chances in serious jeopardy.
On a night when starter Julio Teheran went the distance (eight innings), allowed just three hits and one walk and struck out six batters, the Braves lost. On a night when Teheran, the team's No. 1 starter throughout, posted a sub-2.00 FIP for just the sixth time this season, the Braves lost. And in a season where very little has gone right in terms of run support, the Braves followed the same, destructive script: posting two runs in the third inning and then disappearing.
Rangers starter Lisalverto Bonilla was making just his third appearance at the major-league level and held a 7.36 ERA entering the afternoon.
It was his first career start. Of course he allowed just two earned runs on four hits -- it's difficult to ask for a more favorable matchup than the 29th-best scoring offense in baseball.
The Braves are now 3-8 in the month of September. They are fading at the exact moment that they needed a surge. The Pirates are 7-4 in September. Even the Brewers -- the imploding Brewers that blew the wildcard lead with some terrible play -- are 4-8 this month. the Braves are running out of time, and there's no other way to view their season to date: aside from a fast start, they've played like sub-.500 team and posted a fitting record for their efforts.
Following that same script, Alex Wood and Julio Teheran were excellent in Arlington -- the three runs allowed on Saturday were unearned thanks to a fielding error -- and the offense couldn't come through on either occasion. Every series loss is weighted similarly, but this is a damaging series loss regardless of the Game 3 result.
With respect to the MLB standings, this was a gift on the schedule. The Braves didn't cash in. The best situation Atlanta can hope for is exiting the state of Texas down two games in the wildcard race.
The Braves can count on very few things in their offense, but Freddie Freeman's production over the course of a season is generally a pretty safe bet. He's slightly off the pace he set last season during a top-five NL MVP finish -- .319/.396/.501 with 149 weighted runs plus -- and he's not the most valuable position players on this Braves team, and that's acceptable.
He's still the everyday No. 3 hitter and putting up reliable numbers: he entered Game 2 of this Rangers series hitting .293/.368/.474 with 18 homers for 144 wRC+. (He's even tripled his steals.) And during this stretch run to the postseason, he's upped his production. Over his past 12 games, he's hitting .333/.431/.452, leading the team in individual statistics but, per the usual for this club, it hasn't been enough to right the ship.
The Braves have scored 28 runs this month. Lineup production remains sporadic regardless of manager Fredi Gonzalez's lineup configuration. If there's a solution available, it hasn't presented itself, and if Atlanta is banking on a late-season offensive explosion ... those are some dubious odds.
Freeman delivered by reaching base twice on Saturday, including an RBI double, and it wasn't enough. The top of the lineup reached base three times, and it didn't matter. The offense overall pieced together just three at-bats with runners in scoring position, and came up with just one hit in those situations. This isn't a trend. It's an epidemic, and it showed some of its worst sides against the worst team in baseball.
It's fairly clear at this point that no one player can play the hero for this unit.
Give the Rangers one thing: when they can hand the game over to their bullpen, they do so and utilize it to the fullest. On Friday night, Texas starter Derek Holland handed the game off after the seventh inning and four relievers picked up the slack, posting two shutout innings and striking four Braves hitter.
On Saturday afternoon, Bonilla was taken out after six frames and the bullpen didn't miss a beat. The Rangers used four relievers in the win, going six shutout innings and giving up just two hits.
If there's one thing the Rangers can hang their collective hat on this season -- and there isn't much -- it's the relief corps. The group ranks 12th in wins above replacement this season, two spots behind the Braves with a 3.90 FIP in 462.1 innings of work. They haven't been quite as effective during the season's second half, but don't tell Atlanta's lineup.
It's been a shutdown effort for Texas's relievers in this series to date.
The Braves's postseason resume is all the worse for it.
