Dunning's return a bright spot as comeback segues to heartbreak

SEATTLE -- Chris Woodward could have responded in a number of ways.

In the aftermath of his team’s latest heartbreaking loss in what has turned out to be a brutal stretch of the season, the Rangers’ manager could have pulled off a number of cliché, yet headline-worthy baseball reactions.

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He could have flipped over a table, swearing like a madman about the 5-4 defeat to the Mariners on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park, which ended on a walk-off sacrifice fly and a failed replay review challenge and put to rest one of the more bizarre games of the team’s 2022 season.

He could have punched an inanimate object like a wall or a water cooler. He could have thrown his hands in the air and said nothing at all, letting his silence scream for him.

Of course, Woodward would never do any of that. He is intense and driven to win but measured and even-keeled. His mantra all year long has been that his team is learning how to win, this sort of education takes time, sometimes it hurts, and other times, like Tuesday night, it hurts a lot.

So, minutes after Cal Raleigh had barely evaded catcher Meibrys Viloria’s tag for the winning run on a Carlos Santana sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, and minutes after two reviews -- whether Raleigh had left early and whether Viloria had made the tag in time -- were denied, it came time for Woodward to talk about this game.

He said mainly one thing: His team fought like heck and would fight like heck again Wednesday afternoon.

“We're going to bounce back tomorrow,” Woodward said. “We're going to bounce back, we're going to learn and we're going to continue to grow from these things. We’ll come out with a ton of energy tomorrow and play our butts off.”

That is unquestionably what they did on Tuesday.

Take the eighth inning. The Rangers entered the top of the frame down, 3-1, but got to stingy reliever Paul Sewald by working two consecutive two-out walks and then taking advantage of one of the biggest breaks they’ve gotten in quite some time.

Adolis García hit a 53.5 mph ground ball that first bounced foul of the first-base line, inside the running lane halfway to the bag. García didn’t run out of the box, convinced that the ball was foul.

The ball was not foul, however.

It took a slight left turn, and its next bounce was clearly in fair territory past first base. The ball skirted into right field, allowing Corey Seager and Charlie Culberson as Texas tied it, 3-3.

The Rangers scored another in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Ezequiel Duran to take a 4-3 lead. But Seattle answered in the bottom half with an RBI double by Raleigh and the walk-off fly by Santana.

The Rangers have lost four of their last five and eight of their last 10. But there were some positives on Tuesday.

Starter Dane Dunning pitched five innings in his first outing after missing two weeks because of calcification in his right ankle that was causing discomfort in his Achilles’ tendon, and he was mostly excellent. After a two-run, 34-pitch first inning that included a leadoff homer to rookie All-Star Julio Rodríguez, Dunning settled down and threw shutout ball over the next four frames, needing only an additional 51 pitches.

“He just said he was too excited [in the first inning],” Woodward said of Dunning. “He couldn't really calm down out there. But he goes back out and was really good after that.”

The Rangers will need Dunning to be really good for the rest of the season, and they will need to continue to compete for nine innings every night if they have any chance of getting out of this rut.

Woodward said he has no doubts that it can happen.

“I believe in that group 100%,” Woodward said. “They come every day with the fight. There's so many people that are putting so much in every game. … I respect to how they fought their butts off and didn't give up.”