There was some good news in the four-game split. The Rangers got four exceptional starts in a row. Jacob deGrom went eight scoreless innings on Thursday. Nathan Eovaldi went 5.2 scoreless innings on Friday. On Saturday, Tyler Mahle went six innings, allowing one run. Leiter gave up three runs in his seven innings, two of them coming off the three-run homer Robert Garcia gave up. 

That’s a stellar 1.37 ERA from their starters. The bullpen, not so good.

The Ranger offense has desperately been trying to turn it around, and for the most part, it did. But they still lack that killer instinct, unable to get two-out hits and unable to come from behind in late innings.

They came into the season with a wing-and-a-prayer bullpen and are still trying to navigate the late innings, failing twice in the four games.

The Rangers could have won all four games. They won two. They’re not yet good enough to be a team that sweeps a series. Still too many holes.

Until they can develop that killer instinct, they’ll just be a team treading water.

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