The Texas Rangers have been one of baseball’s best teams this season.
Over the winter, they overhauled their starting rotation and improved it even further at the trade deadline.
However, the team has suddenly fallen on hard times.
For the first time all season long, the Rangers have lost five consecutive games.
They had a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 11th inning on Monday before the Arizona Diamondbacks fought back to win in walk-off fashion.
On Twitter, Bob Nightengale pointed out how things have suddenly changed for the Rangers and what has gone wrong over the past several days that has them in this position.
The Texas #Rangers lose their season-long fifth-consecutive game by blowing a 2-run lead in the 11th inning to the Arizona #Dbacks, losing 4-3, on Tommy Pham's walk-off double.
Their lead over the Houston #Astros cut to 1.5 games.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 22, 2023
It was veteran slugger Tommy Pham who played the role of hero for the D-Backs on Monday night, winning the game for the team with a double.
On the Rangers’ side, there is now some cause for concern.
With their loss on Monday, their lead in the American League West division has shrunk to 1.5 games over the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, who beat the Boston Red Sox by a final score of 9-4 in their series opener.
Texas has had command of the AL West for the better part of this season, and they still have the third-best record in the American League.
However, the Astros are not far behind, and the rest of the season will be interesting to watch as these two teams battle it out to determine AL West supremacy.
The Rangers will look to snap their five-game skid as they continue their series in Arizona.
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