The Texas Rangers Lose on Monday as Their Offense Produces Zero Runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates

The Texas Rangers are now two games behind the Oakland Athletics for the American League lead after Monday's 1-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  A.J. Pierzynski had this to say about their race with the A's, "we just have to win every game we can.  Everybody knows what's at stake and where we stand. But I'll take these guys and go to battle. Hopefully with whatever games we have left, we'll do the best we can and things will work out."

Yu Darvish was the victim of an abysmal performance by the Texas offense.  They were unable to touch Pittsburgh's rookie starter Gerrit Cole as he struck out a career high nine batters on his way to the shutout victory.  He only gave up three hits in seven innings of work as they Ranger offense only had four hits total for the game.  The Rangers are hitting .243 with a .295 on-base percentage as they have lost seven of their last ten games. They're averaging 2.9 runs per game in that span and are hitting just .171 with runners in scoring position.  They didn't help that average on Monday night as they were a pitiful  0-for-2.  Darvish finally left the game after going seven innings while giving up just four hits and striking out six Pirates.

The loss drops Yu (pictured on the Left) to 12-8 on the season despite having the second best ERA (2.84) in the American League.  Manager Ron Washington will have to find a way to motivate his offense if they want to have any kind of chance at retaking the AL West lead. They will get that chance today as they continue their three game series with the Pirates.  First pitch for tonight's game is set for 7:05 pm and can be seen on FOX Sports SW from the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.