Hard luck for Heaney as Texas' bats go quiet

SEATTLE -- The Rangers knew runs would be at a premium this week at T-Mobile Park.

What was gearing up to be yet another pitching duel between the two American League West rivals on Tuesday resulted in a 5-0 loss for the Rangers, as Seattle came up big against Andrew Heaney while the Texas offense cooled down for the first time in weeks.

It wasn’t truly a bad outing by Heaney either, despite what the box score (6 2/3 innings, four runs and a loss) may say.

Seattle's two-run third inning doesn’t even happen if left fielder Josh H. Smith holds onto a hard-hit fly ball from Tom Murphy that rattled around the outfield for a double. And Heaney likely finishes the full seventh inning if not for an throwing error from third baseman Josh Jung that led off that frame. He surrendered a two-run homer to Murphy immediately after the throwing error.

“I felt good,” Heaney said of his outing. “Obviously, the two runs in I think the third inning was one thing, but that homer to Murphy was kind of a backbreaker. I just need to do a better job there, kind of fell behind and tried to throw a 3-1 changeup there that was a little bit ... maybe predictable.”

Heaney only gave up four hits, garnered seven strikeouts on 14 swings-and-misses and effectively moved through the Mariners lineup for most of the game.

“I thought Andrew threw well, I did,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “He gave up four hits and it wasn't our cleanest game, and I thought that came back to bite us a couple of times … We've been playing well. You’re gonna have a night where you don't play as clean as you normally do. That's baseball. That's going to happen but wasn't the difference in the game. My point was that Andrew threw better than what the numbers indicated. That's all.

“He did a real nice job," added Bochy. "I thought he had good stuff and he struck out seven so you know, it was a good effort by him. But when you get shut out, it's hard to win. We know that.”

And despite the numbers and the loss, it was a good bounce-back effort for Heaney, who gave up six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings his last time out against the Diamondbacks.

“I felt good,” Heaney reiterated. “I mean, like I said, I felt like up until that seventh, it was a 2-0 ballgame. I feel like we're definitely in it. Then it becomes a 4-0 ballgame in that situation, I just kind of feel like I gave that one away at the end. That's the frustrating part.”

Though both Bochy and Heaney felt like the southpaw pitched well enough for a win, the Rangers’ high-flying offense struggled to come up with the big hit when it mattered for what seemed like the first time this season. They outhit the Mariners, 7-6, but went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight on base.

Texas was shut out for just the third time this season and for the first time since a 2-0 loss to the Cubs on April 7.

“It comes down to timely hitting,” Bochy said. “They got a big two-out hit to score two and then they got the home run. … Again, it's just a matter of getting key hits. It's pretty simple. We've been scoring runs and that's what works best for us. Tonight, it just didn't happen.”

The Rangers struck out 11 times in the loss, nine of those coming against Mariners starter George Kirby. Much like Monday’s starter Logan Gilbert, Bochy said Kirby had a good, upper-90s fastball with a big curveball that played well off the slider and a changeup to freeze up Texas hitters through his outing.

But unlike Monday night, the Rangers weren’t able to find that big hit when it was needed.

“I thought we had had some good at-bats, we did get some hits,” Bochy said. “But it takes somebody to really come through and get a big, big hit. [Kirby’s] been throwing the ball well. They’ve got a good staff over there, they've got good stuff coming at you. It’s gonna happen. I like to score 15 runs every night, trust me.”