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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Rangers’ starting rotation is the real ‘losers’ of the ALDS

Texas starting pitcher Colby Lewis, like the Rangers’ starters in the first two games, was ineffective against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3. (Nathan Denette / Associated Press)
By Evan Grant Dallas Morning News

TORONTO – Alex Claudio is a long reliever. He tied for the team lead innings pitched in the Division Series.

About says it all about the starting rotation.

This says the rest: 13.94.

That was the rotation’s ERA in getting swept by the Toronto Blue Jays in the Division Series. It is tied for the worst ERA by starters in a single postseason series. Ever.

The Jays wrapped things up with a 7-6 10-inning walk-off win Sunday night in which Matt Bush was officially the “loser,” but that just sums up how grotesquely inaccurate “win” and “loss” stats can be for a pitcher. The rotation lost this series for the Rangers.

Cole Hamels couldn’t control his emotions. Yu Darvish couldn’t control his fastball. And Sunday Colby Lewis couldn’t control his slider, the pitch that had the best chance of neutralizing the right-handed hitting, fastball-hunting Toronto lineup.

After the Rangers gave him a lead by creating a first-inning run, he left a slider over the middle of the plate to Edwin Encarnacion, who decided it was perfectly nice time to take his invisible parrot for a trot around the bases. His two-run homer erased the Rangers lead.

In the third, he allowed consecutive hits to the first two hitters in the lineup and manager Jeff Banister decided not to tempt fate with a second trip through the middle of the order. He scrambled the bullpen, which, save for Jake Diekman, did impeccable work throughout the series. The problem: They never really had a lead to protect. In fact, the Rangers played 28 innings in this quick Division Series and never led at the end of a single inning.

The Rangers had dealt with a thin rotation all year, but the top two spots were supposed to be the strength. Hamels and Darvish were the best 1-2 punch they’ve ever had. And they were dropped like a Rougned Odor uppercut to the jaw.

The Rangers spent the weeks leading up to the trade deadline trying to find an elite pitcher to add to that. They called Chicago and pushed on Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. They called Tampa Bay about Matt Moore and Chris Archer. They called and called and called with the prices being too high. So they tried to strengthen the lineup, which they did just fine. Except that the three guys they added went just 7 for 35 in the postseason without an extra-base hit.

They instead bet that Martin Perez would have a strong finish. Or that Derek Holland would come back from another shoulder injury with a little more velocity and more willingness to change speeds. When neither of those really panned out, they went back to their old reliable postseason option: Lewis.

Even after missing 10 weeks with a muscle tear, an abbreviated three-start rehab assignment and four tuneup starts against sub .500 teams.

The gamble on Lewis did not work. Not against a team that clobbers mistakes.

But it shouldn’t have come down to that. It shouldn’t have come down to Elvis Andrus, Odor and Mitch Moreland trying to turn a double play in the 10th. It shouldn’t have come down to Matt Bush kneeling on the field after the longest outing of his season.

The series got away from the Rangers when their two best starters came up flat.

You can look at the one-run wins and proclaim this team was living on luck all season. You can look at the early clinch and suggest they were flat. You can blame the early start times in Games 1 and 2 for negating home field advantage, if you want.

The plain truth: The Rangers had the situation exactly as they wanted at the start of this series and their two best starters – the two best they’ve ever had for a postseason series – left them in a hole from which they could not recover.