Shades of 2023? Rangers fall to Dodgers, but have familiar feelings after battling with MLB's best

Texas Rangers' Brandon Nimmo, left, celebrates his solo home run with Corey Seager during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong) (Kyusung Gong/AP)

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia slapped his chest as the Dodgers Stadium light show began. Rangers catcher Danny Jansen walked back toward the dugout after a six-pitch strikeout. The visitor's retreated into the clubhouse while baseball's best team celebrated for a second consecutive night.

The whole scene carried far fewer dramatics than the night prior.

The Rangers will take some solace in the fact that there were any at all.

Saturday, in a 6-3 loss in which they trailed by three runs before the second inning, the Rangers forced the Dodgers to use their high-leverage relief arms and brought the tying run to the plate in the final frame. In the first game of the series Friday night, despite a blown lead, the Rangers tagged the opponent's $69 million closer for three runs and a blown save in the top of the ninth inning before the Dodgers walked them off in the bottom.

The result was their first road series loss, a drop back down to a .500 record and a misuse of the momentum that was built by a sweep of their division rivals earlier in the week. The process displayed in the first two games of the West Coast road trip reminded center fielder Evan Carter, who nearly played hero in Friday's loss, of the first big league team that he played on two-and-a-half years ago.

"I felt that way in [2023], too, where no matter what the score was, at any point of the game, we can come back," Carter said. "That's kind of the feeling that you have right now."

Well, you know, aside from the losses themselves.

"The major leagues is about winning," Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. "I know that the results are the results. We are trying to win the game. We're not here just to get to the ninth and see what happens. But, I do really appreciate what's inside that clubhouse, and if we do that through 162, we're going to be okay."

The Rangers will be okay if it can all connect from start to finish on a regular basis. The hurdle between a victory Saturday was a four-run hole dug by the pitcher who'd been arguably their best through two-plus weeks of the regular season and a lack of lineup connectivity early. Right-hander Jack Leiter allowed five runs on five hits, four walks and a pair of first-inning home runs. Four-time MVP designated hitter Shohei Ohtani pulled a slider inside into the right field seats for a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first, and five batters later, left fielder Teoscar Hernandez clubbed a changeup into the stands on the opposite side of the stadium for a three-run home run.

Leiter, who allowed three combined earned runs in his first two starts, called it a "perfect storm" of poor execution and a lack of feel for how his pitches moved. He walked as many batters Saturday as he did in his previous four big league starts. His usually-effective changeup was unexpectedly "kind of out of wack." The 25-year-old needed nearly 50 pitches through the game's first two innings, and by the third inning, he'd eclipsed the 70-pitch mark, loaded the bases with no outs and allowed another run to score on a double play ball.

The Rangers pulled him with one out in the fourth inning, after 93 pitches, in the second game of a 10-game road trip without an off day in between any of them. The trio of left-hander Tyler Alexander, left-hander Robert Garcia and right-hander Chris Martin combined to allow just one run in the game's final 4⅓ innings.

"Everybody wants to pick each other up," Leiter said. "I kind of felt it with the bullpen today. Everybody knows that this isn't the outcome that a starting pitcher is hoping for. They kind of pat you on the back and try to pick you up. That, to me, is the sign of a good team."

That — along with right fielder Brandon Nimmo's pair of home runs vs. right-handed starter Emmett Sheehan — helped keep the Rangers within distance of the back-to-back World Series champions. The Dodgers started the top of the ninth inning with right-hander Blake Treinen on the mound, but after shortstop Corey Seager walked and first baseman Jake Burger reached on an error, they turned to Vesia for a second-straight game and forced Jansen into the game as a pinch hitter for center fielder Evan Carter.

"We made them pull Treinen and bring in Vesia," Burger said. "That's always a win, too, because Vesia goes back-to-back there where he probably wouldn't if you just probably roll over. We feel really good about it. That's one of the best teams in baseball and we went toe-to-toe with them. I think that gives us a lot of confidence."