12-12 – Jung and The Restless as Rangers lose 8-4 to Pirates

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - APRIL 22: Jack Leiter #22 of the Texas Rangers reacts after fielding a ball behind home plate against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field on April 22, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Texas Rangers scored four runs but the Pittsburgh Pirates scored eight runs. The Pirates had five hits off of Jack Leiter and three of those came in their four opportunities with RISP when Leiter was on the mound.

All four of their runs off Leiter came with two outs. The Rangers meanwhile waited until two outs in the eighth to have their first hit with RISP on the night. That seemed at the time like a large one as Jake Burger’s two-out, two-run single tied the game at four runs apiece.

The dream of a comeback victory wouldn’t last long, however. Just a half inning later the Pirates scored the go-ahead run off of Cole Winn and then Jalen Beeks allowed a three-run home run to Oneil Cruz that not even Evan Carter could catch as it doinked off the top of the foul pole. The Rangers have had a handful of losses like this where they manage a late comeback but ultimately still fall short.

On one hand, that’s frustrating. As sports enjoying is all about expectation management, fresh hope ultimately snuffed out is possibly worse than just assuming they’ll lose and then them cordially honoring that belief. On the other hand, the last couple of seasons were littered with almost nothing but mid-game give ups where they barely ever scored past like the sixth inning and almost never came back in games no matter how close.