ARLINGTON, Texas - Manager Ron Washington called his team's journey "a process" Saturday, and the Rangers showed exactly what he was talking about.
After an emotional day dealing with the firing of pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti, the Rangers came up short in a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
For the seventh time this season, the Rangers missed a chance to go five games over .500.
On a day when two of the teams ahead of them in the wild-card race, the Yankees and Red Sox, posted victories, the Rangers lost ground.
Texas trails wild-card leader Boston by six games.
"There's no quick-fix in baseball," Washington said before the game as he explained the promotion of Andy Hawkins to pitching coach and Jim Colborn to bullpen coach. "Baseball don't work like that. Baseball is a process. But we need to get the new process in and see where it goes."
The Rangers are trying to start the process for the future and also chase the playoffs now. Can they do both? It seems that's the plan.
To remain in contention, they have to be able to rely on stronger pitching, simply because it's difficult to expect the offense to carry the load every game.
After rallying Friday for a 9-8 walk-off win, the Rangers ran into strong Blue Jays pitching, and couldn't hold a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning.
Starting pitcher Scott Feldman battled through four walks and had two runners on with one out in the sixth when Jamey Wright was called from the bullpen. Wright got a fielder's choice before loading the bases with an intentional walk. Toronto's Rod Barajas and Scott Rolen then followed with back-to-back doubles to push the score to 6-3.
Gerald Laird singled home Josh Hamilton in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 6-4, but Texas would then go quietly the rest of the way.
Rangers pitchers said they were inspired by Hawkins' talk with the staff before the game, but they also said that a change of coaches isn't going to immediately fix the team's problem.
"He's got his work cut out for him," reliever Eddie Guardado said. "It's not going to be easy. But he's not here to do any magic, he's just here to piece stuff together and hopefully we get better."
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