'Enough is enough': Road skid tests Rangers

At what point does a streak become a pattern? Rangers manager Chris Woodward said his club is way past that as Texas’ road losing streak reached 12 games in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Seattle at T-Mobile Park.

The streak, spanning two road trips, is the Rangers’ longest road skid since they dropped 10 in a row from June 17-July 4, 2014. It is the organization's longest road losing streak since relocating to Texas in 1972, and is tied for the second longest (2003 and 1966) in franchise history with the Washington Senators losing 16 straight in 1961.

The Rangers are now 13-13 at home and 9-20 on the road.

Texas was no-hit for five innings by Seattle's Yusei Kikuchi in Sunday’s series finale before Willie Calhoun broke it up with a single through the shift in the sixth. It finally got on the board in the seventh with a two-run homer from Joey Gallo, his ninth of the season to extend his hitting streak to six games.

Woodward said he felt like the attitude of the team has been good throughout the losing streak, though he saw a lot of frustration early in Sunday's contest. The offense generated two hard outs -- 92 mph exit velocity from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and 100 from Nick Solak -- in the first before going down 1-0 in the bottom of the inning on a Ty France RBI double.

“That's baseball,” Woodward said. “I mean, listen, baseball is going to test you. It's going to test you physically and mentally, and right now, we're being tested more than I've seen a team be tested. I think it's important that guys realize the world's not ending.

“It may feel that way, especially for the younger guys, but the sun will come up tomorrow and we'll have a game. We're going to come out and play with a ton of energy and prepare the way we usually do. We just can't let that frustration boil over into that next game.”

The Rangers have not led at the end of an inning on the road since May 13 against the Astros, a span of 90 consecutive innings. Solak said it doesn’t feel any different mentally on the road than it does at home, adding this skid is just something the club has to work through.

Woodward said he wants the club to have a sense of urgency, and to feel that pressure to stop the bleeding every day. He doesn’t want the frustration, especially of younger players or those with less service time, to overflow into something worse.

“I’m laughing, but inside, I hate it,” Woodward said before Sunday's game. “I don't want us to be labeled as a team that can't win on the road. I know these guys are taking a lot of pride in their preparation every day. But we’ve got to be better. That's not a pattern you want to have on your resume."

Gallo said the clubhouse is sticking with the process, though it can be difficult when the results aren't aligning with the hard work and preparation. During this rough patch, the Rangers have been outscored 68-36 as the offense struggles to string hits together.

Gallo emphasized how hard it truly is to hit in today’s era of baseball and how the Rangers need to find a way to manufacture runs in a different way.

Woodward and Gallo both said the players are having good at-bats and hitting the ball hard, but that it doesn’t matter if a fielder is standing right where the balls are hit.

Struggles like this are to be expected with a rebuilding team, but nobody in the organization likes losing. Woodward and Gallo emphasized how the Rangers aren’t getting blown out in every game -- it's the one-run and two-run games that are killing them. Texas is 5-10 in one-run games and 6-7 in two-run games.

“We know we're losing and nobody's excited about losing,” Gallo said. “Especially on the road, we haven't been playing well lately. But everybody's still showing up to the park, still asking how we are going to get better, you know -- 'What are we going to do and how are we going to win today?' I think that's a great mentality to have. Results are results and sometimes you're going to lose games, but to build a team to be a winner, to be in the World Series one day, I think that's the mentality you have to have.”

It’s clear the Rangers have been missing something, whether it’s a big hit here or a shutdown inning there. They have 13 come-from-behind victories and three walk-off wins, but what’s evident is the struggle to take the lead in the first place.

While it’s a young team, Woodward pointed out that the Rangers can’t be afraid to make mistakes. The team has to go on the attack to win games.

“There comes a point where it's, 'OK, enough is enough,'” Woodward said. “Let's just all strap up today and we're going to do everything we possibly can to win a baseball game. And that's the dialogue I’m hearing today, which is great. I've already talked to a few of our guys, and we can't shy away from what's in front of us and keep taking it head on.”