Demarcus Evans entered the bottom of the tenth with a 3-2 lead. He preceded to walk Myles Straw on four pitches. With the ghost runner at second, that put runners on first and second. 

He then threw four strikes to pinch hitter Jason Castro. 

Unfortunately, home plate umpire Jerry Meals called two of them balls. The last pitch Evans threw to Castro was so well within the strike zone, Castro knew he was out and wasn’t running to first, until he realized strike three hadn’t been called. He jogged to first, the luckiest man in the ballpark filled with 24,500 people who knew that was a strike. And one who didn’t.

Evans was clearly upset by the call. Rangers manager Chris Woodward began yelling words from the dugout that started with the letter F. 

The whole thing rattled Evans. His very next pitch, Jose Altuve hit for a grand slam and the Rangers went from up 3-2 to losing 6-3. 

It was the second blown save of the game by Rangers pitching, in what had been their first save opportunity since Ian Kennedy went down with a hamstring pull June 4.

The Rangers weren’t sure who they would call on to close games. 

They are still not sure. 

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TODAY’S GAME: