The Texas Rangers' up-and-down stretch of games continued on Wednesday with a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

Because of Wednesday's lackluster performance, the Rangers are in danger of dropping the series and have now lost three of their last four games.

Texas should not be struggling this much against the worst team in baseball, but it is.

Even in the first game the Rangers won against the Angels on Monday, it took 10 innings. In that game, Texas' offense put four runs on the board, and it only achieved that many in the next two games combined.

On Wednesday, the Rangers struck first, using a small-ball effort in the second inning that culminated in Joc Pederson drawing a walk with the bases loaded that scored Nicky Lopez. In the third inning, Corey Seager hit a leadoff solo home run.

But the Angels had a response in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI single by Mike Trout, and that kickstarted momentum for Los Angeles and gave it complete control for the rest of the game.

The Angels scored three runs in the sixth inning after attacking Texas’ bullpen and scored one run in the seventh. That was all they needed to do to comfortably get to the finish line, because the Rangers’ offense had gone cold.

After Seager’s home run in the third, Texas’ batting order mustered just three more hits the remainder of the game. By the end, the Rangers had gone 7-for-33 at the plate with eight strikeouts. 

Offense has been sparse throughout the series for Texas, and it is reflected in the losses and even the lone win it has secured so far. Overall, the Rangers have hit .205 (21-for-102) against the Angels and struck out 29 times.

It has been a bad stretch of games by a team that does not have the luxury of losing. Following Wednesday’s defeat, the Rangers are 60-61; once again below .500.

Additionally, they are 1.5 games behind the Houston Astros for the lead in the American League West Division. Texas will have an opportunity to split the series with the Angels on Thursday, but it should have never come to this point.

After their series against Los Angeles concludes, the Rangers will face another one of baseball’s bottom feeders in the Athletics, who at the time of writing possess the second-worst record in baseball. These should be layups, but they have not been.

Texas is going to have to figure out its offensive woes fast, or it might fall to the Athletics, too. The next 10 days are arguably as easy as it is going to get for the Rangers the rest of the season, and they'd better take advantage of it.