The Houston Astros outscored the Texas Rangers by a margin of eight to five.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the game due to Bally Sports Southwest and Bally Sports Southwest Extra airing different programming instead of the baseball game as scheduled. It was quite perplexing considering the circumstances.

Based on my observations from Gameday, it seems like the Rangers faced a tough challenge similar to the previous day’s game, with little hope of victory. The loss brings the Rangers back to .500 for the season, and they have now dropped consecutive series after starting the season 6-2.

A special shoutout goes to Cole Winn, who made his MLB debut after enduring various challenges in the minor leagues since being drafted by Texas in the first round of the 2018 MLB draft. Winn played a pivotal role, pitching the Rangers out of a tough seventh inning where the Astros scored multiple runs off Yerry Rodriguez, effectively sealing the game’s outcome. He then wrapped up the game with a scoreless inning.

The success of the Rangers’ 2024 season largely depends on maintaining stability until three key starting pitchers — Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Tyler Mahle — return from the injured list this summer. The last thing they need is to add more injuries to that list.

Before Sunday’s 8-5 loss in the series finale against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, the Rangers placed left-handed pitcher Cody Bradford on the injured list, joining the group of key players sidelined due to injury. This setback is even more significant than anticipated at the beginning of the season.

Surprisingly, at 26 years old, Bradford has emerged as the top starter for Texas early in the season, boasting a 3-0 record and a 1.40 ERA across three starts. At the time of his injury, he ranked among the American League leaders in wins, opponents’ batting average (.145), and ERA.

Currently, the rotation is led by Nathan Eovaldi, with Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, and Andrew Heaney following behind him. Michael Lorenzen is anticipated to join the team in Detroit, filling in for Bradford in the rotation and making his debut for the Rangers.

The starting rotation appears strong, much like it did during Spring Training. However, it remains vulnerable to setbacks such as ankle sprains or blisters, which could disrupt its stability.

Nathan Eovaldi has often been a reliable figure for the Rangers, frequently providing quality starts when the team needs them most. However, in Sunday’s defeat, he allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks over six innings. He also gave up two solo home runs to Jose Altuve.

“One of the frustrating parts about today was I felt like I made good pitches at times and they were still able to put the ball in play,” Eovaldi said. “I feel like that’s one of the things that the Astros do well as a whole. They’re able to expand the strike zone but make it tough at-bats and tough outs.”

“I’d love to have a three-pitch first inning instead of a 30-pitch first inning,” Heaney said after his own loss to the Astros on Saturday. “It can erode your confidence a little bit and your conviction and stuff, but at the same time you have to go out there and have a decent second inning and build on that.”

“I feel like the walks have been an issue, where it is uncompetitive,” Eovaldi said. “I, today, had some where it’s a four- or five- or six-pitch walk. When there’s really not anybody on base, then I feel like that kind of opens the floodgates at times when we really have to make good pitches and bear down. It ends up wasting pitches. I feel like we’ve got to do a better job of just attacking the guys in general.”