|
TORONTO -- In the span of a few hours, Rougned Odor experienced the exhilaration and despair of October baseball. Odor’s throwing error in the 10th inning of Game 3 allowed Josh Donaldson to score from second base, touching off a raucous celebration in right field Sunday night at Rogers Centre. While the Toronto Blue Jays' dogpile swelled, Odor stood at second base as if trying to comprehend the surreal scene: Toronto 7, Texas 6. And just like that, the team that finished with the American League’s best record is out of the playoffs, swept in the best-of-five division series. Pitching betrayed the Rangers in Game 1, as Cole Hamels lasted just 3 1/3 innings. Their bats betrayed them in Game 2; they went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position. And in Game 3, their defense let them down. We shouldn’t be surprised Odor was in the middle of the action. He gives the Rangers their edge. He’s 5-foot-10, 170 pounds or so -- no matter how he’s listed in the program -- and he is beloved by his teammates and by Rangers’ fans, yet hated by just about every other team for his hard-nosed style.  He had slumped for much of September, hitting a season-low .247 during the month, but he played his best offensive game in Game 3. His two-run homer to center in the fourth inning pulled the Rangers within 5-4. Odor hit 33 homers, third among American League second basemen behind the Minnesota Twins’ Brian Dozier (42) and the Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano (39).
Odor walked and scored in the sixth as the Rangers took a 6-5 lead that lasted until the bottom of the inning, when Troy Tulowitzki scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 6-6. The Rangers did not lead at the end of any of the 28 ALDS innings they played against the Blue Jays. None of that mattered in the bottom of the 10th inning, when Odor's suspect defense ended the Rangers’ season. With runners on first and second, Russell Martin grounded to deep shortstop. Elvis Andrus fielded the ball and made a slightly low throw to Odor, who threw wide to the outfield side of first baseman Mitch Moreland. Moreland knocked the ball down, but it rolled a few feet from him. Donaldson dashed home and beat Moreland’s throw, which catcher Jonathan Lucroy couldn’t corral. “As soon as I saw the ground ball in that situation, I want to make sure we got one out in that situation,” Andrus said. “I got the ball to him as fast as I could. That situation is always hard. It’s a sad way to lose a game. It doesn’t feel good at all.” Odor led AL second basemen with 22 errors, 10 more than the New York Yankees’ Starlin Castro (12) and the Cleveland Indians’ Jason Kipnis (12). “I throw a little bit to the side. I tried to do my best there. That’s it,” said Odor, still wearing his full uniform 45 minutes after the loss. “We had a chance at first. If it was a good throw, we would’ve got the out. “This team is like a family. After the game, everybody go toward me and try to help me. It’s part of the game. There’s nothing I can do now. I tried to throw the ball good, but I didn’t.” This is the second consecutive year that poor defense has led to the Rangers’ postseason demise. Last year, they made three errors in the seventh inning -- two by Andrus -- and the Blue Jays rallied to win Game 5, coming back from a 2-0 series deficit. Toronto has now won six consecutive playoff games against the Rangers. “I talked to Rougie already,” Andrus said. “It’s hard, man, to be in that situation. I talked to him after that play; I’m so proud of him. That’s the best you can do. You want to keep everything under control until you’re in that situation. “He was trying to get that double play and get back to the dugout, but it didn’t happen. As long as you leave 100 percent on the field, there’s nothing bad with us. We still have plenty of career ahead of us. It ended quick in the playoffs, but we have to use it as motivation and come back stronger next year.” Andrus is not just spouting feel-good rhetoric. He hit a career-high .302 this season with eight homers, seven triples and 31 doubles after using last season’s playoff disappointment as motivation. Now, Odor must do the same. “We tried to win the game,” he said. “We left our hearts out there, but we lose.”
|
