Dunning keeps Rangers close, but bats remain in funk

ARLINGTON -- Piece by piece, the Rangers’ rotation -- and by extension, the entire pitching staff -- is coming into focus.

Injuries affect all teams, but at one point, the Rangers had an entire rotation and more on the injured list. But in recent weeks, Dane Dunning returned from a rotator cuff strain, and Nathan Eovaldi came back from a groin strain.

Even guys like Jon Gray, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle are well on their way back, likely in that order. Cody Bradford and Jacob deGrom will be sometime afterward, likely near the Trade Deadline. Things are, in theory, looking up on the injury front.

But despite all the injuries, the rotation hasn’t been the problem for Texas lately. It’s the offense, which was the best in the American League in 2023, that has struggled to get things going.

That was never more evident than on Tuesday night, when Dunning, in his third start since coming off the injured list, shouldered a 3-1 loss to the Tigers at Globe Life Field.

After a scoreless first inning, Dunning allowed a two-run homer to Zach McKinstry and a solo shot to Riley Greene that would ultimately make the difference.

“I'd say he wasn't on top of his game completely,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “But still, he gave up only three runs and gave us a chance to win. You should be allowed to give up three and still win the ballgame. The bats are just quiet. It’s hard to explain why.”

Dunning, who may be headed to the bullpen when the rotation is fully healthy, admitted that felt “sloppy” in his delivery, leading to the two homers that decided the game.

Dunning has allowed at least one home run in seven of his 10 starts this season. His 10 dingers allowed are the most among Rangers pitchers in 2024, as 16 of his 27 runs allowed have come via the long ball (59.3%).

“For me personally today, there were a lot of sloppy pitches, just a lot of sloppy misses,” Dunning said. “I didn't get ahead as much as I wanted to. I just kind of dug myself into a hole and they capitalized on two, mainly one, bad location pitch. I mean they were able to capitalize for a couple home runs.

“I didn't really feel like I was timed up well. I felt like my pace was slower. My breaking balls, especially my slider, weren't as sharp as they usually are. My misses at times were just too big. Just little things like that, if I clean that up, I can have a much smoother game and hopefully it brings that energy a little bit more to our offense instead of them being down early.”

Since Spring Training, it’s felt like if the Rangers could tread water until their plethora of injured pitchers get back, they could compete in the final stretch of the season. Instead, the healthy pitchers have performed better than anyone could’ve expected as a unit.

Entering the day, Rangers' pitchers had allowed two or fewer earned runs in six of their past seven games, posting an AL-best 1.89 ERA during that stretch.

Before Dunning allowed three runs, Rangers starters had allowed two or fewer ER in 16 straight games, posting a 2.69 ERA in that span and a 1.66 ERA in the past eight games.

Instead, it’s the superstars on the offensive end that haven’t pulled their weight. Getting starters healthy will help, especially as the bullpen is concerned. Pitching may win championships, as Eovaldi often says, but you can’t win if you don’t score runs.

It’s hard to ignore where the Rangers could be right now, with this pitching, if the offense looked like the best version of itself. This series loss to Detroit is the perfect encapsulation of that. The staff has held the Tigers to just five runs over two games. The Rangers scored two.

“Dane gave us five innings and three runs and the bullpen did a great job,” Bochy reiterated. “We really didn't threaten much. We were lucky to get one run and to be honest, it’s frustrating. We looked like we were coming out of [the offensive slump] and now these last two games have been tough sledding for us.”