Bruce Bochy Strategy Key to Texas Rangers Victory

Two late moves by Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy helped lead to Sunday night’s win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has won more than 2,000 games by making the right decisions at the right time. Decisions are key, but so is the strategy behind it.

Bochy’s strategic mind was on display twice in the Rangers’ 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.

First, in the top of the eighth, Bochy made a defensive change in the outfield. He moved Robbie Grossman from right field to left and Adolis García from center to right. Bochy has done this once already in the young season.

But this time, instead of sliding Bubba Thompson into center field, he put Travis Jankowski out there. He used Thompson in that previous defensive switch. But that was also in a game in which the Rangers had control.

On Sunday, the Rangers were up by a run. Bochy held Thompson back for a reason.

“You never know what’s going to happen in the game and it’s fair to say that Bubba is our fastest base stealer,” Bochy said. “So I wanted to keep one bullet on the bench in case we needed to pinch-run.”

It turned out the Rangers never needed Thompson’s base stealing services. But in a game with a different outcome, who knows?

The second move was in the top of the ninth. Bochy turned to Will Smith to close out the game instead of José Leclerc, who the manager said will still get the majority of the opportunities.

Leclerc was fresh. He last pitched on Opening Day in a non-save situation. But using Smith, a left-hander, was completely matchup driven.

“(Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux) and I talked about it, and where they were in the order they had a lot of left-handed bats in the dugout,” Bochy said.

In the ninth, the Phillies had Edmundo Sosa, Bryson Stott and Cristian Pache scheduled to hit. Stott is a left-hander. Pache is a right-hander, but the Phillies turned to a left-hander, Darick Hall, to pinch-hit for Pache. The Phillies also had two other left-handed bats on their bench.

Smith handled all three hitters to retire the side and get the save.

On Sunday night, Bochy’s strategy — and the decisions behind them — worked perfectly.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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