Rangers' Skip Schumaker Reacts to Rough Loss

Don StroubleMon, July 20, 2026 at 1:00 AM UTC·3 min read

If any word can describe the Texas Rangers’ start to the second half of the 2026 Major League Baseball season, it would be substandard.

The Rangers lost to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, 8-5, at Truist Park in Atlanta. Texas picked itself up after an ugly 15-1 loss on Friday with a 7-6 win on Saturday, but the series is still going to its opponent.

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Following Sunday’s loss, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker spoke with Rangers Sports Network about what went wrong.

“Well, first off, Evo gave us everything he had,” Schumaker said about starting righty Nathan Eovaldi. “I mean, he was not feeling great all week, and I know he gave up a couple solo home runs, but he gave us a lot out there.

“I don't think people really realize what he was going through,” Schumaker added. “After that, you know, we just made a couple of mental mistakes that cost us. And you do that to, you know, a really good offensive team over there, they're gonna make you pay, and they did.”

Eovaldi provided four innings for the Rangers and two strikeouts, but he gave up six hits, four earned runs (three home runs) and two walks. Two of the home runs Eovaldi gave up were to Austin Riley, and the other came off the bat of Drake Baldwin.

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Riley and Baldwin created a lot of problems for Texas over the weekend, and Schumaker commended them.

“And then also, Baldwin and Riley just had an amazing series,” Schumaker said. “And we just couldn't contain them. It was just, whatever we did, didn't matter what pitch we threw them, they were hitting it hard, and we just couldn't make the proper adjustment.”

Defensive miscues by the Rangers in the seventh inning ultimately became contributing factors in a three-run frame for the Braves, which Schumaker commented on as well.

“My take was that JJ [Josh Jung] thought he could run [Matt] Olson down and, you know, probably should have given up the ball to [ Nicky] Lopez and didn't; just kind of kept it to himself and should have given it up,” Schumaker said.

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“I think he knows that. Obviously, it's always, you second-guess yourself when it doesn't work out, but that play should have been made.

“And I think the ground ball to Zeke [Ezequiel Duran], [Mauricio] Dubon had a really, really good secondary and got off the base,” Schumaker added.

“You know, the secondary lead was fantastic and probably should have just gotten one there, if not, you know, tried to hurry up the ball a little bit. But it's just, again, a couple of mental mistakes that against a good team will make you pay.”

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