You can’t assume a double play. But you can expect that one to have been made in the bottom of the second inning yesterday.

Because of a horrible throw from Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor, on the relay, the batter was safe at first on what should have been an easy third out to end the second.

Yet, instead of ending the inning, it started a Colorado five-run rally that buried the Rangers early and added five earned runs onto Kolby Allard’s ledger that shouldn’t have been there.

That’s because, since you can’t assume a double play, Odor’s throw wasn’t called an error since no base runners advanced. 

You can’t assume an error but you can assume a major league second baseman to make that play. He didn’t. He also didn’t execute a cut off to nail a runner at the plate that should have been an out. 

Defense has never been important to this Rangers front office. They tend to take a plug and play approach. Have a hole? Find the first available player and fill him in there. Who can forget Mike Napoli’s adventures in left field? Or Ian Desmond’s magical mystery tour in center? Or the head-scratching decision to make Isiah Kiner-Falefa into a catcher? And when was the last time the Rangers had a center fielder who knew the position? 

Derek Dietrich has played only a handful of games at first. It showed yesterday when he and Odor botched an easy pop up and let it fall to the ground. It’s these little things that add up. Because the Rangers are afraid to make the difficult decision and sit players who are not contributing, they try to work around by putting people in the lineup in positions they really don’t belong.

It shows.

Defense matters. To everyone, it seems, but the Texas Rangers. It almost cost them the first two games of the series against the Rockies but veteran’s like Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson were able to pitch around the mistakes. Kolby Allard wasn’t so fortunate.

With the Rangers, not only can you not assume a double play, you can’t assume a throw will be made, a cutoff man will be hit, a relay will be made, a pop up will be caught, or a ground ball will be fielded.

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TODAY’S GAME:

Zach Davies (2-2, 2.78) vs. Jordan Lyles (1-1, 6.06)

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