The Texas Rangers scored four runs, but the Seattle Mariners scored five runs.

If Kumar Rocker is the future and Jacob deGrom is the present, it feels a little rude to call Max Scherzer the past, given the surprises the Rangers pulled off in Seattle this week. Scherzer, after all, fits comfortably in the top 30 or so pitchers of all time. But he’s also 40 years old and in the phase of his career where he sometimes rolls out of bed and can’t pitch for a month.

Still, a Hall of Famer from the moment he got on the ballot, one of only ten people to ever start a World Series game for the Texas Rangers, and one of approximately 60 people to own a Texas Rangers World Series ring, he will forever be a part of the legend of the most miraculous season in team history.

But of the three starters in this series, Scherzer was the one who was least talked about, the one who probably had the least impact on the team beyond this month, and the one you probably won’t see many exciting highlights from, as he allowed a couple of runs in four innings in which he struggled a bit.

But even though these are Scherzer’s last weeks with the Rangers, it’s still pretty cool that he was here, even if you look back on it as a deal like Emmitt Smith’s to the Arizona Cardinals or Hakeem Olajuwon’s to the Toronto Raptors, where 20 years from now, someone will see a photo of him in a Rangers jersey and think, “Hmm.”

Even though he didn’t play a major role in their run last October and hasn’t really thrown much this season, he still deserves credit for the many opportunities he still has at Texas.

Oh yeah, and the Rangers lost.

Player of the match: Another surprise was when Jack Leiter replaced Scherzer and seemed to take another step forward, matching Scherzer’s performance in four innings but managing six strikeouts in his 71 pitches.

A bad 3-2 pitch to Luke Raley spoiled his last pitch and he tied the game with a two-run home run, but Leiter looked pretty good and had another promising outing looking to the future, allowing just three hits and a couple of walks in his long relief appearance.

Next: The Rangers and Mariners close out this series with boring left-hander Andrew Heaney (sorry, Heandog!) starting for Texas against RHP George Kirby for Seattle.

First pitch Sunday afternoon from T-Mobile Park is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. CT and you can watch it on BS Southwest.