Since starting the season 6-2, the Rangers have reversed course and gone 2-6 their next eight games.

Two losses to Houston, two to Oakland, two more to Houston.

It’s been a lack of offense, no clutch hitting, very little power, bullpen failures and, just when they needed another great start from the usually dependable Nathan Eovaldi, he gives up five runs in six innings.

Right now nothing is working. And their best starter to date, Cody Bradford, just went on the IL with a back injury.

It’s the oldest adage in baseball: You can’t have too much pitching. The Rangers now have four starters on the injured list in Bradford, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, and Jacob deGrom. Andrew Heaney has been horrible so far, and Jon Gray has yet to win a game.

So, there’s a lot riding on tonight’s first start of the year by the recently signed Michael Lorenzen. The thirty-two-year-old righthander has been a middle-of-the-road starter, at times brilliant, at times not so much. 

He was traded to Philadelphia from Detroit, where he made the All-Star team, at the deadline last year, had a start where he went eight innings and giving up only two runs, then pitched a no-hitter, then fell apart before he lost his rotation spot and ended the season in the Phillies bullpen.

Right now, the Rangers could really use him to be the guy who made the All-Star team. Texas could use a bit of luck when it comes to their rotation. Because so far this season, the only luck they’ve had has a bad back.

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TODAY’S GAME: