Mahle a silver lining in Rangers' extras loss

BOSTON -- Rangers manager Bruce Bochy insisted that they had the pitchers to go into an extra-inning game on Monday night.

And sure, in the literal sense, they did. But after a doubleheader in New York on Saturday, and more than a few injuries, the number of high-leverage arms was not where the Rangers would have liked it to be entering the series against the Red Sox this week.

That’s how Texas ended up with rookies Gerson Garabito and Walter Pennington pitching in the 10th inning to protect a one-run lead at Fenway Park. And that’s how the Rangers lost that one-run lead, ultimately falling, 5-4, to the Red Sox in 10 innings to open the series.

“Well, we had arms out there,” Bochy said. “[The Red Sox] just came back. Garabito gave up the [leadoff] double [to Enmanuel Valdez] and now you’ve got your work cut out. We had two outs there, and had a chance to get out of it.”

In both Garabito and Pennington’s defense, the Rangers’ offense did not give much wiggle room. Texas went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven on base. The most flashy offensive highlight was a game-tying home run from Corey Seager that would eventually send the game to extras.

“We just had trouble getting runs early again,” Bochy said. “We got some guys out there in the early innings and we just couldn't cash in. When we play these tight games, that margin of error is so small when you don't score a lot of runs.”

In Monday’s loss, Tyler Mahle -- making his second start since coming off of Tommy John surgery -- was one of very few silver linings.

He collected 15 whiffs, leading to seven strikeouts and three walks. He was removed with two outs in the fifth inning as his pitch count crept above 90 for the first time this year.

“I felt fine,” Mahle said. “I felt like I could have kept throwing. Obviously, I shouldn't have. I didn't even know they were gonna let me go into 90-something pitches. I thought I was gonna be out of there before that. But yeah, I felt great.”

Mahle allowed two runs over 4 2/3 innings of work, though things quickly went downhill when he left the game with it tied, 1-1, before having to face Rafael Devers a third time.

“Obviously, the competitor in all of us, even if I had been in 110 pitches, I'd want to face [Devers],” Mahle said. “But pitch count aside, it was probably smart anyways, because I wasn't making pitches at that time.”

Reliever Andrew Chafin didn’t make the best pitches there either.

Chafin got to a 3-0 count against Devers, before the Rangers intentionally walked him. Then a wild pitch advanced both runners, so Texas also intentionally walked Connor Wong to load the bases. Chafin then walked in two runs with the bases loaded -- including the inherited runner from Mahle -- to end his day. He threw 16 pitches and just four for strikes.

“Chafin, his release point was just off,” Bochy said. “That was a tough outing for him. Today he was missing pretty good too. He was just off, just an off night. That was playing with their lineup, and having him help out Mahle there and give us an inning-plus. It just didn't go well.”

Mahle underwent Tommy John surgery when he was with the Twins in May 2023, and the Rangers signed him to a two-year, $22 million deal this offseason. He spent the first half of his first year in Texas rehabbing that injury, which ruined a promising ‘23 season in which he posted a 3.16 ERA over five starts.

In his short return to the field so far, he’s shown that he has barely missed a step.

Things aren’t over for the Rangers just yet. There’s a lot of baseball left in 2024. But it’s also hard to not think about how Mahle’s development bodes for ‘25 with Jacob deGrom also making his way back from his own Tommy John surgery and more rotational depth on the way.

“I feel great,” Mahle said. “I feel normal. I’m not holding anything back. I'm treating everything the same as I did before surgery.”