Drew Smyly has been so bad, he hasn’t been able to pitch  enough innings to qualify for the worst ERA in baseball.

You can look at last night’s game two ways.

One, this was almost the most amazing comeback ever.

Two, Drew Smyly should never get another major league start.

They are connected.

The worst team in baseball this year and last year, and next year and probably the next five years, came into the Ballpark and suddenly turned into the 1927 Yankees. Thanks to Drew Smyly.

He gave up four runs in the first. But he wasn’t finished. By the time he left in the fourth inning, he had given up seven runs.

Smyly has started ten games this season. He’s made it past the fourth inning only three times. He is the opposite of an innings eater. Before every bullpen pitcher in baseball goes to sleep, he says a prayer for Drew Smyly. He is single handedly making bullpenning a thing.

Smyly has given up seven earned runs two games in a row. The Rangers won that last one. They couldn’t win this one. They tried. More accurately, the Orioles tried to give it away.

Two ninth-inning errors allowed six runs to score. The Rangers needed seven. All seven runs Drew Smyly gave up.

In the end, it was an exciting loss.

The Rangers are running out of places to hide Jon Daniels’s off-season mistakes. Edibson Volquez is languishing on the Injured List. Shelby Miller has been banished to the bullpen and only touches the ball in hopeless situations. Drew Smyly is creating hopeless situations as a starter. Is there room for him and Miller in the bullpen?

The Rangers almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in history. Error. Walk Walk. Double to score two. Single to score one. Double to score two more. Groundout. Single to score one. Strikeout. Error. Strikeout.

In the end, the Rangers fell one run short.

It’s hard to undo Drew.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

John Means (5-4, 2.80) vs. Mike Minor (5-4, 2.74)
Game time: 7:05