Rougned Odor scores the lone Rangers run on a passed ball.

Finally, Rougned Odor is starting to put together some semblance of an offense.

After seeing his average fall to a dismal .171 due to a 2-for-11 performance against the Yankees, Odor has had three two-hit games. That’s seven hits in his last five games and last 17 at-bats, a .412 clip, which lifts his season average to .215, the highest it’s been this season and since September 8 of last year.

If there is one guy on the Rangers who really needs an offensive rebirth, it’s Rougned Odor. His power has disappeared, with just one home run and six doubles, but at least he is getting base hits.

And yesterday, his base hit in the third turned into the only run the Rangers scored when he came home on a passed ball. In the fifth, though, after stealing second, he got picked off trying to steal third.

Unfortunately, with Odor, it’s like playing Whac-A-Mole. Just when you think you’ve taken care of one deficiency, another pops up and rears its ugly head.

He has so many deficiencies.

The last two games his defense has killed the Rangers.

For the second game in a row, Odor’s failure to turn a routine double play was a direct result of two runs scoring, and those two runs were the direct result of the Rangers losing. This is not to say that the Rangers lost solely because of Odor’s defense. It is to say, however, that, had he made those routine plays, the outcomes would have been vastly different.

Sunday, Odor failed to make the pivot to first on what should have been an easy 5-4-3 double play, causing the inning to extend when it should have ended. The Royals then scored two runs. Those are the two runs they won by, 5-3.

Monday, with a runner at first and one out in the sixth, Doug Fister coaxed a double play grounder to end the inning. Except that Odor bobbled it, then threw to second for the force out, but because of the bobble, Profar had to rush his throw. Profar’s throw are an adventure anyway, and this one didn’t get the batter running at first.

Instead of being out of the inning, Fister then gave up three singles in a row that turned a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit. Like the Royals the day before, the Mariners scored two runs they shouldn’t have scored. Those are the two runs that won them the game.

Baseball is a team sport. So, you can’t pin the loss on one single player. In both cases the pitchers could have contained the damage, but didn’t. You can, however, say that if Rougned Odor could play any kind of defense, the chances are pretty good the Rangers would have won the last two games instead of losing them. And the Rangers would be enjoying their first four-game winning streak of the season instead of another two-game losing streak.

Defense matters.

But Odor is getting base hits, so there’s that.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Austin Bibens-Dirkx (0-1, 5.68) vs. Felix Hernandez (5-4, 5.58)
Game time: 9:10

How the Rangers hit against Hernandez.
How the Mariners hit against Bibens-Dirkx.