The bold summer revival of the Texas Rangers began immediately after they hit bottom. On July 28, three days before the nonwaiver trading deadline, the Rangers scored five runs in the first inning against the Yankees. Then they gave up the next 21 runs of the game, without getting a hit.
“That was a sobering moment,” said Jon Daniels, the Rangers’ general manager, whose team fell to 47-52 with that loss. He was not interested in renting a pitcher for the stretch drive.
“But we knew that this off-season, we were going to need to address our pitching staff,” Daniels said.