Texas Rangers Bullpen Needs 'Fix'

When is how many blown saves too many blown saves for Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy? It’s not as easy a question to answer as you might think.

Right-hander Jose Leclerc owns two of the Rangers’ four blown saves this season. Left-hander Will Smith blew one last week and Ian Kennedy did the same Tuesday night in a 7-6 loss at the Cincinnati Reds.

Smith leads the team with two saves, while Leclerc has one.

The Rangers only have three saves in seven tries so far this season, but Leclerc’s blown save Monday was fresh on the mind of Rangers fans going into Tuesday's game.

The American League West-leading Rangers (14-9) hope to claim the series finale Wednesday behind Jon Gray (1-1, 3.72) starting. Graham Ashcraft (2-0, 1.88) starts for Cincinnati. First pitch is scheduled for 11:35 a.m.

When it comes to Leclerc, there's some scar tissue for fans. When he’s one, he’s on. When he’s off, Monday happens. He walked three, allowing the Reds to tie the game in the eighth and win it in the ninth.

Bochy gave the holdover players a clean slate in his first season. So when does the slate start to get, you know, dirty?

“It's hard to quantify,” Bochy told the K&C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan Dallas/Fort Worth. “It's more of how they're throwing. Strikes are important, especially for your closer and your set-up guys.”

Bochy said that pitching coach Mike Maddux spent Tuesday looking at video from Monday to see what he and the staff can do to support Leclerc and Smith.

Smith’s blown save is recent, too, coming Friday against the Oakland Athletics.

Bochy acknowledged that the recent blown saves are fresh on his mind, even though the bullpen has been an overall bright spot.

He said it’s “our job to fix them.”

“I don't want to think of the negative right now,” he said. “We’ve got to focus on doing all we can to get this bullpen exactly like we want.”

Production will end up determining who gets the role. Before the season, Bochy repeatedly acknowledged that he felt Leclerc would get the “majority” of the chances to close. So far, he and Smith have split it 50/50, with Smith taking over in situations when the Rangers set to face a majority of left-handed hitters.

Smith has the advantage of having done the job for Bochy while with San Francisco in 2018 and '19, with the latter yielding 34 saves and an All-Star Game berth. He also has two World Series rings, won each of the last two seasons.

But Bochy doesn’t seem inclined to change his stripes just yet.

“I always the players performance would dictate when they play, where they play and that doesn't change,” Bochy said. “So I don't mean not to be a little bit more definitive, but you do need to stay behind these guys.

“A player plays so much better when he feels that you, the staff, have the confidence in him and I certainly don't want to put that kind of pressure on anybody right now.”

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