ARLINGTON — They are the clearest dichotomy in baseball, which, come to think of it, is how you end up with a roller-coaster ride to .500. Nothing so determines the fate of the Texas Rangers as the first run of the game.
Score it and they are invincible.
Allow it and they become invisible.
The last two days painted it more vividly than Leroy Neiman ever could. A day after the Rangers paired first-inning defense and baserunning to sprint out to an early lead in an eventual shutout win, Washington squeezed out a couple of runs against strike-zone-challenged Kumar Rocker and turned the tables in a 6-0 win.
When the Rangers have scored first in games this season, they are 46-16, the fourth-best record in that scenario. The three teams better in that department — the Dodgers, Cubs and Rays — are all at least 20 games above .500 for the year. The Rangers hit robustly when they score first, with a .276 average, an .806 OPS and 5.3 runs per game.
On the other hand, when the opponent scores first, they are 16-49, the third-worst record under that scenario. It is the largest discrepancy between the two scenarios in the majors. Oh, and they hit .208 and score 2.9 runs per game.
The Rangers are all too aware of the issue, but have no clear explanation for it. Which is probably why they are currently sitting three games below .500.
“We haven't been very good at coming back from a deficit,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Early on, it felt like we were. But lately, we just haven't been able to come back, especially on the road. I wish I could give the right answer of what we need to do. It comes down to getting the leadoff guy on, if we can, and figuring it out from there.”
On Wednesday, at least they had a valid excuse. Washington’s Cade Cavalli is on some kind of heater, particularly since the All-Star break. In his last start against the Cubs, he was perfect for five innings, allowed his only hit with two outs in the seventh and left with eight shutout innings. Cavalli entered the game with seven consecutive quality starts and a 2.13 second-half ERA.
Cavalli used six different pitches with four distinctly different speed ranges to keep the Rangers off balance. He struck out eight in the first three innings, the only innings the Rangers reached against him. Each time Cavalli allowed a hit, he struck out the next batter. He retired the last 11 batters he faced.
Cavalli threw first-pitch strikes to get ahead and then, with the Rangers on the defensive, used his wide array of pitches to wipe them out.
Texas Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker tucks in his shirt as Washington Nationals designated hitter José Tena trots home after a third inning solo home run at Globe Life Field in Arlington, August 19, 2026. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)This is all to make a point: Rocker did none of that with any consistency. He threw first-pitch strikes only 50% of the time, leading to lots of at-bats where he had to battle back into the count, thus driving up his pitch count. It has been a pattern all year.
His first-pitch strike rate of 55.7% entering Wednesday was the fourth-worst among the 104 pitchers with at least 1,500 pitches thrown this season. Worse, he’s been behind in the count 30.1% of the time, the sixth-highest behind-in-the-count rate. And for the topper: Batters were hitting .336 against him when they had count leverage; that’s the ninth-highest batting average allowed in those situations.
“One of the pillars of our pitching pillars is to get ahead and stay ahead,” Schumaker said. “The [first-pitch strike percentage] should be higher, especially with what we preach in the organization. We’ve got to get back to it.”
Rocker had few words to go along with his few first-pitch strikes.
“I think first-pitch strikes are big,” he said. “I'd like to see that percentage increase, and that's just kind of the thing we work on and keep pounding on.”
Asked if there was anything he’d identified as a reason for the issue, which has gotten worse year over year, Rocker simply said “no.” A year ago, he threw first-pitch strikes 58.9% of the time.
There is, however, something concrete to consider. He’s got to command his sinker and four-seamer better and trust them more often, especially early in counts. Rocker’s slider is an elite pitch and the pitch in which he has the most conviction. But it’s best used as a wipe-out pitch when he gets ahead and batters are forced to expand their zone. It doesn’t work as well early in counts, when batters are more inclined to take.
“He's been so good at throwing his slider — it's an outlier, a unicorn,” Schumaker said. “But if he doesn't get the first-pitch strike, then it's harder to get to that slider as a put-away pitch. We’ve got to figure out a way to get the cutter or the sinker over more.”
In that regard, Schumaker thought Tuesday’s outing from Cal Quantrill could have been a good lesson for Rocker to learn from. Quantrill has used his splitter as a put-away pitch this year with great success, but it’s working because he’s got better command of a four-seamer, two-seamer and cutter in the zone.
“I think Cal was a perfect example last night of who Rocker could be with how he utilizes his fastball,” Schumaker said. “Cal put it anywhere he wanted. He can really learn from kind of watching the game yesterday of how Cal navigated that game with three different shapes to the fastball, not nibbling and being on the attack.”
On Tuesday, that approach made Quantrill and the Rangers invincible. On Wednesday, Rocker and the Rangers were invisible.
Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (5) reaches second on a ninth inning double as Texas Rangers second baseman Nicky Lopez (33) attempted the tag at Globe Life Field in Arlington, August 19, 2026. The play was challenged and upheld by replay. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)SubscribeSign up for the Morning Roundup, a free newsletter delivering the latest North Texas news each morning.
This article originally published at Invincible or invisible: Rangers are baseball's clearest dichotomy with fateful first run.
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