Turnabout is fair play. Not sure why that is a saying but it is. Not sure exactly what is supposed to be fair about it, either.

But after following the fall-behind-early-then-rally-big-late blueprint the previous three games, the Rangers fell victim to that last night.

A seemingly controllable 3-0 lead vanished in the eighth inning when the Astros scored four runs. On nine pitches. And just like that, the Rangers modest three-game winning streak ended.

Dane Dunning cruised through six innings. Unfortunately for him, and for Rangers fans, that’s as long as a major league pitcher is expected to go these days. Imagine if your boss was okay with two-thirds effort.

“Hey, Hank, it’s 2:00. You’ve been here since 9:00. You have to be exhausted. Go home.”

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the Indianapolis 330.”

“Wow, that was awesome. Gimme three.”

“I win with a straight, 9, 10, J.”

But Dunning had to come out. For goodness sake, he had thrown ninety-nine pitches. Yes, ninety-nine is nearly—gasp!—one hundred. Oh, the inhumanity of it all!

Of course, once you take out a dominating starter, you give the other team the chance to exhale. The Astros took advantage of the Rangers philanthropy. Five batters into the eighth, the Astros had the lead.

So, instead of—

“Hey, Kevin, that’s enough writing for today.”

“But I still have a few more paragraphs to go.”

“Nobody expect anyone to complete a full blog these days. Let the monkey on the keyboard take it from here.”

“Okay.”

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*****