Cardinals Blank Rangers in Series Finale

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

June 8, 2023

Cardinals 1, Rangers 0

ARLINGTON, Tex. (June 7) — The Texas Rangers‘ winning streak was snapped at five games as they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 1–0, on Wednesday. A solo home run by Alec Burleson was the deciding factor in the series finale. The Rangers remain 4.5 games ahead of the Houston Astros — who lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 3–2, on Wednesday — in the AL West. The Rangers still lead their division with a record of 40–21. After on off-day on Thursday, the Rangers will head to St. Petersburg, Florida for a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays starting on Friday. The Rangers will send lefty Andrew Heaney (4–3, 4.03 ERA) to the mound in the opener of that series. The Rays’ starter for that game is still to be determined.

Late-Inning Offense

This game stayed knotted at zero until the top of the eighth. All was quiet until the Burleson solo home run to left-center brought the crowd to life. Most of the crowd, consisting of 30,251 spectators, rose to their feet at the sight of it. This was only the sixth career homer for Burleson. It was also the sixth go-ahead home run by a Cardinals batter in the eighth inning or later in 2023. The other five are Nolan Gorman with four and Paul DeJong with one.

It was the first homer by a Cardinals batter to break a scoreless tie in the eighth or later since Nolan Arenado‘s two-run blast in the ninth on April 20, 2022 against the Miami Marlins. Speaking of Arenado, he had the Cardinals’ only two hits over the first seven-plus innings on Wednesday. He had hits in all three games of this series and at least one extra-base hit in each contest. Rangers fans did get excited in the bottom of the ninth when Adolis Garcia, who originally had the night off, stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter. Nothing came of his at-bat, however, as he struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. Mitch Garver flied to short to end the game.

Gray Goes the Distance

Rangers starter Jon Gray made his 12th start/appearance of the season on Wednesday. He shouldered his second loss despite tossing his second career complete game, the other coming on September 17, 2016 against the San Diego Padres. His final line in his outing on Wednesday was 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R-ER, 0 BB, 12 K, 1 HR, 100 pitches/76 strikes. Gray became the first Rangers pitcher to throw a complete game and lose since Cliff Lee suffered a 6–1 loss on July 10, 2010 against the Baltimore Orioles. Wednesday’s loss snapped his career-high five-start winning streak dating to May 8. He has still posted a 5–1 record and 0.84 ERA (4 ER/43 IP) over his last six starts. His 12 strikeouts on Wednesday were a career high.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in a 29-pitch first inning and posted six scoreless innings. He took no decision as the game was still scoreless when he was removed. It was his second-longest scoreless start in the past two seasons. The other instance was on May 15 against the Milwaukee Brewers. This was the fourth time this season that an opposing starter has tossed six or more scoreless innings against the Rangers. It’s also only the second instance at Globe Life Field. The others were Marcus Stroman of the Chicago Cubs (six scoreless on April 7 at Wrigley Field), George Kirby (seven scoreless on May 9 against the Seattle Mariners), and Atlanta Braves starter Charlie Morton (6 2/3 scoreless on May 15).

Semien’s Hitting Streak Ends

Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien saw his career- and league-best 25-game hit streak come to an end Wednesday after going 0-for-4. His streak stands as the second-longest in Senators/Rangers franchise history. It is the longest by a Ranger since a 25-game run by Ian Kinsler from June 17 to July 13, 2008.

Postgame Comments

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was asked for his thoughts about Jon Gray’s performance on Wednesday. He replied by saying, “I saw the same thing he’s been doing. He was throwing the ball great. Going all nine innings isn’t an easy thing to do by any means. He just did a really great job tonight. Jon had great stuff, and I wish we could’ve gotten some runs for him. He has 12 strikeouts, and really threw a beautiful game.” When the subject of the offense came up, Bochy said, “We don’t get shut out very often. We kept trying all night to get that one big hit, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. This can be an unfair game at times.”

Rangers starter Jon Gray also met with the media after the game. He was asked about his efficiency on the mound. After scratching his beard, he replied with, “I thought we did a good job attacking the zone. My slider was working well, and Sandy (Leon) did a really nice job calling the game behind the plate.”