Rangers need stronger offense, relief

ARLINGTON — Rangers manager Jeff Banister has an open-and-shut case for getting his team headed back in the right direction.

Banister, while his team was being swept by the Athletics this week in Oakland, said his team needs to open up bigger leads and shut down opponents late in the game.

Those are the two biggest issues for Banister as his team opens a three-game series against the Astros on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

“I love our club. We have a club that does something to win a game every night. But we’ve got to do something to close it out. It has been a challenge to close it out.”

That’s the pitching side. There is also the offensive side.

“We’ve got to find a way to find space and stretch out leads,” Banister said. They go together, he said.

Close games require Banister to use his best relievers. Sam Dyson has pitched in 20 of 41 games while Jake Diekman has been used 19 times, Shawn Tolleson 18 and Tony Barnette 17.

“That’s almost half our games,” Banister said. “We can’t keep rolling those guys out there every night.”

The Rangers are second in the American League with 131 relief appearances and have been furiously shuttling relievers back and forth from the Minor Leagues.

Dyson will take over as the closer. Diekman and Barnette likely will be the primary setup relievers although the Rangers appear ready to give rookie Matt Bush a more prominent role as they did Keone Kela last year. Tolleson, taken out of the …

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