Final thoughts from Texas Rangers’ loss to Astros: Troubling trends re-emerge in Houston

HOUSTON - Can we blame it on the Angel Hernandez hangover?

Seems as good a reason as any for the Rangers’ dramatic about face Saturday in a 9-2 loss, barely 18 hours after throttling the Astros pitching with the oft-criticized Hernandez behind the plate. On Saturday, the Rangers offense seemed to shut down after the first inning (a not-so-great trend we’ll discuss more in a second) and Andrew Heaney once again failed to make it through five innings.

With one game remaining in their seven-game stretch over a 10-day period, the Rangers and Astros are tied at three wins apiece. Hmmm. This seems somewhat familiar. Can’t recall exactly what.

Anyhow, on a wasted Saturday afternoon in Houston, here are some VERY IMPORTANT final thoughts:

Best start, worst finish: With a pair of two-out run-scoring hits, the Rangers have now scored 15 runs in the first inning this year, making it their most productive inning of a game. It was tied for third in the majors. That’s the good news. Not so good: They’ve scored 21 in innings 7-9. It’s been a bit puzzling and at least slightly concerning how often the offense has been shut down late in games. The knee-jerk reaction is that they do a great job of game-planning for starters, but seem to struggle to react when opponents adjust.

Worst strike out looking: For the second straight day, a Ranger rookie took a called third strike with the bases loaded. On Friday, Wyatt Langford drew rave reviews for taking one since the ball was six inches off the plate. Saturday, Evan Carter took one much, much closer for the final out of the seventh inning. According to MLB’s Statcast system, the slider from Bryan Abreu just bisected the outside edge. Carter disagreed with home plate umpire Nic Lentz, but didn’t matter, the inning was over. So, too, it turned out was the game. The Astros scored seven runs in the bottom of the inning to break open a 2-2 tie.

Worst trend: As Nathaniel Lowe embarks on his rehab assignment (he was facing Houston’s rehabbing Justin Verlander Saturday night in Frisco), Jared Walsh has hit a rough patch. He struck out three times and popped up Saturday and is 2 for his last 18 with eight strikeouts. He’s struck out six times in 10 at-bats in this series and looked woefully late on a couple of swings. He’s a career .192 hitter in Minute Maid Park and has struck out in 41 percent of his plate appearances there.

Worst stat: Yordan Alvarez was 2 for 2 with a walk against lefties Andrew Heaney and Jacob Latz. The Astros’ very bad man negates anything resembling a left-handed platoon edge. He’s 11 for 22 against lefties this year; 6 for 9 against the Rangers lefties. As of Sunday, the Rangers won’t have to face Alvarez again until July. Maybe they’ll have a new plan of attack against him. Alvarez is 4 for 4 against Andrew Heaney this year and 9 for 19 in his career. Safe to say: He sees him well.

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