“Hey, wait a second, I thought we had three catchers? Where are Holaday and Wilson?” Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos said to himself as he looks for help when the final pitch of the game gets past him for a game-losing passed ball.

Yesterday the Texas Rangers lost in a most unusual way. So unusual, in fact, they hadn’t lost that way since 1986. On a passed ball.

Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos owned up to the mistake. “My fault,” he said. “I called the pitch. I know which way the pitching is going to go.”

Since Chirinos has returned from the DL on June 10, he has had real trouble with pitches. Most of them from the opposing pitcher.

In fourteen games back, he has five hits in thirty-seven at bats, for a .135 average. On June 14 and 15, he had three home runs and five RBIs. Those two games are the only extra base hits and runs he had driven in since returning. Take away those two games and Robinson Chirinos is batting .100 with no extra base hits and no RBIs in twelve games.

Since Chirinos returned from the DL on June 10, Bryan Holaday has played three games, going 0-for-6 with no RBIs. Before that, he was hitting .254 in twenty-three games with thirteen RBIs.

In that same span, Bobby Wilson has played in nine games, getting twenty-five at bats with just three hits for a .120 average, with one double and no RBIs. Before that, he was hitting .282 with three home runs, and nineteen runs batted in.

Bryan Holiday and Bobby Wilson were hitting a collective .270 with four home runs, eleven extra base hits, and thirty-four RBIs before Chirinos.

In the twenty-game history of the bold experiment of carrying three catchers, Rangers backstops are hitting a collective .117 with three home runs, four extra base hits and five RBIs.

Take away that two-day renaissance from Chirinos, and it’s a .082 batting average with no home runs, one extra base hit, and zero RBIs.

To put it another way, in eighteen of the last twenty games, Rangers catchers have driven in no runs, and registered just five hits.

The Rangers are 14-6 in that time.

A team rarely carries three catchers on its twenty-five man roster. And when you look at the production they are getting from those three catchers alongside the team’s record in those twenty games, the rest of the Rangers offense is, indeed, carrying those three catchers.

It’s time for them to carry their weight.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Martin Perez (7-4, 3.44) vs. Ervin Santana (2-7 , 4.64)
Game time: 7:10 pm

How the Rangers hit against Santana.
How the Yankees hit against Perez.