ARLINGTON — The Rangers snapped a 15-inning scoreless streak in the fifth, but by then, it was too late. The lack of early run support for Martin Perez, who had his roughest start in nearly two months, led to yet another September loss.
Texas fell to the Pirates, 5-4, on Tuesday night at Rangers Ballpark for its fifth loss in the last six contests. The Rangers are 2-7 this month and remain two games back in the American League West behind the first-place A’s, who lost, 4-3, to the Twins.
The Rangers made it interesting in the ninth, scoring a pair to cut the deficit to one run, but Adrian Beltre struck out with the tying run on third and winning run on first to end the game.
The scoreless streak was broken on an RBI double from Ian Kinsler, which also snapped a 15-inning drought without an extra-base hit. Beltre snapped a 1-for-22 slump with runners in scoring position in the eighth to drive in Texas’ second run. He collected two hits, matching his total in 23 at-bats over the previous six games. Jeff Baker struck out with runners at second and third to end the two-out rally in the eighth.
Perez has been one of the club’s most consistent pitchers since the All-Star break, but the lefty lasted five-plus innings. It was his shortest outing since throwing three innings July 26 against the Indians.
The rookie allowed three of his four earned runs with two outs in the fifth, but didn’t receive much help behind him. Perez allowed four consecutive hits starting with a double to Jordy Mercer, who reached third on Craig Gentry’s fielding error. Gentry also made a poor throw to home plate that allowed a run to score. The throw also allowed another runner to advance to third before scoring on a wild pitch during the next at-bat.
Andrew McCutchen, who entered the game hitting .382 against left-handed pitchers, drove in two of the four runs off Perez. The loss snapped a career-high six-game winning streak for the American League Rookie of the Month in August. Perez received 7.5 runs a game of support in those last six starts.
The Rangers hold the top spot in the AL Wild Card race by 2 1/2 games over the Rays and four games over the Orioles and Indians. All four teams lost Tuesday.
