'Right there in front of us': Rangers remain just shy of playoff berth

SEATTLE -- Win and you’re in. It sounds simple.

But for the Rangers, who have been one win away from their first postseason berth since 2016 for two days now, one win has never felt so far away.

Texas was one out away from clinching Thursday night in Seattle, before J.P. Crawford delivered a quick, final blow with a devastating walk-off double. But Friday’s 8-0 loss to the Mariners was worse, in a way.

It was a long, slow burn that pushed the Rangers’ postseason hopes further and further away, with Crawford again providing the gut punch -- this time, a grand slam in the fourth inning in front of a packed house at T-Mobile Park.

• Games remaining (2): at SEA (2)
• Standings update: The Rangers (89-71) lead the AL West by one game over the Astros (88-72) and two games over the Mariners (87-73).
• Tiebreakers: The Rangers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker vs. the Mariners but not the Astros.
• Path to postseason: If Texas beats Seattle on Saturday and Houston beats Arizona, then the Rangers clinch at least an AL Wild Card spot. If the Rangers beat the Mariners on Saturday and Houston loses, then Texas wins the AL West outright. Here are all the potential tiebreak scenarios if it comes down to Sunday.

“I mean, it's right there in front of us,” starter Nathan Eovaldi said. “All we have to do is go out there and win one game. I know with last night's loss and then this one today, it's tough. But we just have to turn the page from those two. That's what it comes down to in the final games of the season.”

If there’s two things that are true about the 2023 Texas Rangers, it’s that the offense is elite and Eovaldi has, far and away, been the best pitcher on the staff.

On Friday, both those things disappeared.

Eovaldi allowed seven runs on five hits and two walks, including solo homers from Ty France and Josh Rojas in the third inning. The seven were a season high for the Rangers’ ace. His previous high was six runs, in his third start of the season against Kansas City.

“It’s frustrating that I'm not having the results that I want, because I'm starting to feel a lot better and feel more into my mechanics,” Eovaldi said. “My fastball felt really good today, and I felt like my splitter was really good today as well. It's just having that mixture of all those pitches and making sure that I'm locating them well.”

And Texas’ high-powered offense was shut down by Bryan Woo and a hoard of Seattle relievers, who limited the Rangers to just three hits on the night. Friday was just the 10th time this season that Texas has been held scoreless and the seventh time it has recorded three or fewer hits.

Texas was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12 on base.

“That's the other story of the game,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We did everything we were hoping to do to set the table, but we just couldn't cash in. Just one hit maybe gets things rolling, and we couldn't do it. We had long at-bats, guys on base, we just needed somebody to come through and get things rolling. That gets contagious … and gets some momentum going our way. Their guy was finding a way to get out of it. To me, the difference in the game. If we get some early runs, it's a different ballgame.”

The Rangers are still one win away. Everything is still in front of them, Bochy said. But the path ahead isn’t as easy as it seemed two days ago, when the club left Anaheim on a high after taking two of three from the Angels.

With Jon Gray landing on the injured list with mild right lower forearm tightness, and Max Scherzer already there with right teres major strain, the Rangers are looking at back-to-back bullpen games against two of Seattle’s best starters in Luis Castillo and George Kirby to close out the regular season.

“Obviously, if we lose anybody in the rotation, it's tough on us,” Eovaldi said. “We talk about the bullpen a lot, but I feel like this is one of those situations where you just gotta block out the outside noise. We know the talent that we have, we know all those arms are capable of going out there and getting outs and covering innings.

“That's really what it comes down to tomorrow and Sunday. We got to make sure that we win one of these games -- and ideally two and win the division. It’s just simplifying the basics and going out there and playing our game. We know what we're capable of going out there and doing. We just gotta go out there and execute.”