Grant: Rangers' messy pen springs another leak in 4-3 loss to M's

Texas' Ian Kinsler steals second base in NFL Jerseys cheapestthe first inning.SEATTLE – Um, it’s a mess.

For weeks, the cracks in the Rangers' bullpen have been expanding as the stress on an injury-plagued group accumulates. What started as cracks soon became leaks. And on the team’s West Coast road trip, the messy detritus has come spilling through.

For the second straight day, the Rangers blew a late-inning lead and lost in the opponent’s final at-bat. It seems like the only thing that changes these days are the names and locations. The outcome remains the same. On Tuesday in Seattle, it was a 4-3 loss that the Rangers led not once, but twice, in the game’s final three innings.

Oh, and before we get into the bullpen issue, there’s this: Another Ranger left another game with an injury. On Tuesday, it was outfielder Nelson Cruz, who has had perennial issues with his hamstrings, who came out Lawrence Taylor Jerseyearly with a tight right quadriceps muscle.

The Rangers took a 2-1 lead to the seventh inning before Alexi Ogando had to turn the ball over to the bullpen. It’s becoming more and more difficult for Ron Washington to figure out exactly who to give the ball to.

On Tuesday, he chose Pedro Strop, the hard-throwing, but often erratic right-hander, who has not really had a chance to earn a spot as significant part of the patchwork ‘pen. Suffice to say, he didn’t do much to further his cause on Tuesday, blowing leads in the seventh (ital.) and (end) eighth.

The Rangers overcame the seventh-inning issue by creating a run out of a Julio Borbon single, a wild pitch, a sacrifice bunt and a perfectly executed pinch hit squeeze bunt by Elvis Andrus.

All that hard work did was temporarily postpone the misery. The Rangers ended up losing for the sixth time this season in the opponent’s last at-bat. They lost just 15 times in the opponent’s last at-bat in 2010.

Washington allowed Strop to remain in the game to start the eighth. He had after all come back after allowing the tying run to score to get Ichiro Suzuki to bounce into a double play (after falling behind 3-and-0) and then getting another ground ball to end the inning.

No such luck in the eighth. He allowed a leadoff single to No. 3 hitter Adam Kennedy. And then the Rangers were caught off guard by catcher –and cleanup hitter – Miguel Olivo’s bunt. Strop charged the ball, slid, fielded it and bandage dress
threw late to first, putting runners at first and second. Former Ranger Justin Smoak lined a ball off the glove of first baseman Mike Napoli to tie the game and put runners at first and third with no outs.

It also left Washington with no choice but to get Strop out of the game. With lefty Jack Cust coming to the plate, he turned to his interim closer, lefty Darren Oliver. With no outs in the eighth inning. Of a tie game. On the road.

Oliver, though ,was the fresher lefty. Arthur Rhodes had pitched a full inning on Monday in blowing a lead. Oliver threw only one pitch in the 10 inning of that game, allowing a walkoff homer to Hideki Matsui. Cust didn’t homer. He merely singled, driving the go-ahead run home.

The score was different. The location was different. The details were slightly different.

But the situation is still the same forherve leger v neck dress
the Rangers.

The bullpen is a mess.

Catch Evan Grant all season on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310) at 9:35 a.m. Tuesdays with The Musers and 4:50 p.m. Wednesdays with The Hardline.