ARLINGTON, Texas — It's been a painful year for the Texas Rangers and their fans. But now, it is finally over.
The Rangers were shutout by the Cleveland Indians, 6-0, in the final game of the 2021 season. Cleveland immediately jumped on Rangers starter Dane Dunning when Myles Straw led off the game with a single, stole second base, then scored immediately on an RBI single by Amed Rosario.
The Indians got to Dunning for three more runs in the third, ending his day after just three innings. It wasn't the finale Dunning was hoping for, giving up four runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
The Rangers offense was kept silent nearly all afternoon, registering only four hits — all of which were singles. Despite going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, Nathaniel Lowe finished the season with the highest OPS on the Rangers (.771).
The highlight of the afternoon on the Rangers side of things came in the sixth inning when Matt Bush took the mound in a big league game for the first time since April 7. Bush had missed nearly all of this season with a flexor strain. Unsure what the future holds for Bush, manager Chris Woodward wanted to give him one more opportunity to pitch, just in case it was the last time.
Bush made the inning count, retiring the Indians in order with a strikeout in the frame. As for the future, the 35-year-old Bush said after the game he has no intention to retire from baseball.
"I'm just looking forward to when this place opens in November and we start training," Bush laughed. "I'm just trying to string a few more innings together."
As for the Rangers season, despite being a very young and inexperienced team, 102 losses doesn't sit well with anyone in the organization. Even so, Chris Woodward addressed his team on Sunday in as positive a light as can be expected, but with an eye on being better in 2022.
"I just wanted to thank everybody for the work they put in," Woodward said. "It's a 12-month job, and that starts tomorrow. The work they put in during the offseason, I know how hard these guys work. I know how hard our staff works. How many meetings we've had. And it all come down to a 102-loss season. That's frustrating. But [I wanted] to thank everybody through for all that work, even through all that difficulty, through all the losses. These guys never put their head down. They kept coming out everyday, taking extra ground balls, taking extra swings, trying to figure things out.
"I know that starting tomorrow — the second part of the message — what we do this offseason, how hard we work, what things we address is going to determine where we are standing next year at this point. I don't want to be in this position. We're not going to be in this position. We want to be doing what some other teams are doing, pouring champagne on each other. That's obviously the goal. That's the vision."
Tom Grieve's Final Season
During the Rangers television broadcast, longtime broadcaster and Rangers Hall of Famer Tom Grieve announced that 2022 will be his last season in the broadcast booth. It will be Grieve’s 28th year as a broadcaster, the longest tenure in club history for a TV announcer. It will also be his 55th year with the franchise, where 'Mr. Ranger' has spent time as a player, front office executive, general manager and broadcaster.
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