Through two games in New York, the Texas Rangers haven’t hit like they did earlier this season.
Even so, the Rangers didn’t need a return to their offensive form in order to move back into first place in the American League West.
The Rangers will look to maintain their share of the top spot in the division on Wednesday when they close out a lengthy road trip by attempting to complete a three-game sweep of the New York Mets.
Dane Dunning (9-6, 3.36 ERA) is slated to start for the Rangers against fellow right-hander Denyi Reyes (0-2, 7.50).
The Rangers pieced together another narrow win on Tuesday, when Mitch Garver homered to break a scoreless tie in the seventh inning and scored what proved to be the decisive run in the ninth as Texas edged the Mets 2-1.
A few hours after closing out its win, Texas got some help from the Oakland Athletics, who beat the red-hot Seattle Mariners 3-1 to create a virtual three-way tie atop the AL West. The Mariners and Rangers are each 75-57, while the Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 on Tuesday to improve to 76-58.
The Rangers spent 111 consecutive days in first place before Sunday, when the Mariners leapfrogged them after Texas fell to the Minnesota Twins 7-6 in 13 innings for its ninth loss in 10 games.
The Rangers, who lead the American League with 733 runs scored, a .268 average and a .794 OPS, have relied on timely hitting and sturdy pitching against the Mets. Texas was one out away from a defeat on Monday when Nathaniel Lowe laced a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning to produce a 4-3 victory.
Texas starters Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney combined to give up three runs over 11 1/3 innings the past two days. Rangers relievers have allowed just one run — Mark Vientos’ two-out homer off Aroldis Chapman in the ninth on Tuesday — and two hits in 6 2/3 innings.
“Marcus (Semien) spoke up the other day — he challenged everybody to see if we could win without the three-run homer, without scoring 10 runs and to play those tight games,” Garver told Bally Sports Southwest after the Tuesday game. “The bullpen’s done a really good job the past few days, and the results are showing.”
The Mets’ offensive woes continued on Tuesday, when Vientos’ homer kept them from being shut out for the 15th time this year. New York has lost six of seven games, a span in which it has been outscored 26-13.
The top four batters in the Mets’ order — Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso — went a combined 3-for-15 on Tuesday and are hitting just .157 (16-for-102) over the past seven games.
“We’ve been inconsistent, that’s for sure,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “The top part of the order’s trying sometimes to do too much because we’ve been struggling.”
Dunning took a loss on Friday when he allowed four runs over four innings as the Rangers fell to the Twins 12-2. He has never opposed the Mets.
Reyes, who will be recalled from Triple-A Syracuse prior to the Wednesday game, last pitched for the Mets on Aug. 12. In that game, he took the defeat after giving up five runs over 4 2/3 innings as New York lost 21-3 to the Atlanta Braves in the first game of a doubleheader. He has never faced the Rangers.