Rangers can't recover as close call shifts momentum late

MINNEAPOLIS -- Bruce Bochy jumped out of the Rangers’ dugout at Target Field and beelined for home-plate umpire Laz Diaz, before quickly adjusting course to third-base umpire Erich Bacchus.

Rangers reliever David Robertson, catcher Jonah Heim and Bochy himself all thought that Robertson struck out Twins second baseman Edouard Julien on a full-count foul tip in the seventh inning. Diaz initially agreed, but the Minnesota dugout asked for assistance, and Bacchus ruled that the pitch had been fouled but not caught, keeping Julien alive. Foul tips are not reviewable, which is why Bochy was unable to challenge the call.

After another foul, Julien drew a walk and the Twins cut their deficit to one with a run one batter later, helping set up a comeback that saw the Rangers fall, 5-3, on Saturday to extend their losing streak to six games.

“Laz got the call right, and then he asked for help and they overturned it,” Heim said. “I'm trying not to get in trouble here, but we just gotta be better. It’s the big leagues. Calls like that swing a game. As long as we’re getting the call right, that’s all that matters.”

Bochy earned his 83rd career ejection after a lengthy argument with Diaz and Bacchus.

“I guess it was a unique play. We thought it was ball four,” Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler said. “I guess they were saying they heard something, ‘Did the ball hit the bat or did it hit the dirt?’ So [Bacchus] called a foul ball. I wasn’t out there to hear the dispute or anything, but it was kind of a unique play.”

As Bochy watched the final two innings from his office at Target Field, things unraveled even further for his ballclub. That singular call isn’t the reason the Rangers lost the game by any means. But when a team is scuffling like they are right now, something like that sets off a sequence of events that can change the game.

And well, when it rains, it pours for Texas these days.

The Rangers' offense scored a run in each of the fourth through sixth innings, but stalled out afterwards. Meanwhile, the usually reliable Robertson surrendered a go-ahead three-run homer to Alex Kirilloff in the eighth inning. The veteran right-hander has only allowed runs in four of his 21 games this season, and today it made a difference.

“It wasn’t a bad pitch, he got extended on it,” Bochy said. “Unfortunately, a couple guys got on before that. That's what hurts. We had a guy out there. He's been so good. Give them credit, they battled off him. We had to bring him in the seventh, I didn't really want to do that, but once we got in a jam there, we're trying to win a ballgame. You want your guy out there.

“But sitting on two or three runs, you’re asking for trouble. We gotta get out of this slide of getting just two or three runs. We’re getting a lot of empty at-bats and that doesn't work. We gotta get some guys going.”

But if there’s truly one domino that set the game down this path, it goes back to the start of the seventh inning. Rangers starter Michael Lorenzen dealt a quality start, allowed just one run in six innings and appeared to be set to come back out to start the seventh.

Quickly, Bochy, pitching coach Mike Maddux and a group of trainers joined Lorenzen on the mound after a few warmup pitches. He ultimately left the game with leg cramps, forcing Bochy to go to the bullpen earlier than he would’ve liked.

“It’s frustrating,” Lorenzen said. “I hate putting the bullpen in that situation.”

But Lorenzen did all he could, taking a no-decision in his fifth quality start of the season. He issued a bases-loaded walk in the first inning -- leading to his only run of the game and a show of frustration in the dugout -- but cruised through five scoreless afterward to give the Rangers a chance to win the game.

Lorenzen, who lowered his ERA to 3.35 after his outing, has been a fantastic addition to a Rangers rotation that currently boasts six pitchers on the injured list.

“Another great job,” Bochy said. “Our pitching’s been doing a terrific job. He did settle down. He's frustrated with walking in the run there, but he's such a pro and a competitor. He went back out there and gave a great effort and went out in the seventh and then had the cramp around the knee area. They [the trainers] just had a tough time getting it to go away. He wanted to try, but you know the risk versus reward there. We’ve lost enough starters.”