Texas Rangers Bullpen Fails to Hold Lead Again

Dane Dunning and Jose Leclerc combined for five walks Monday in a 7-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, marking the second time the Texas Rangers bullpen squandered a win in less than a week.

The Texas Rangers bullpen has largely been a bright spot so far this season. But after blowing two multi-run leads in the last four games, is the bullpen starting to see some wear and tear after a hot start?

In Monday’s 7-6 loss at the Cincinnati Reds, the Rangers (14-8) were leading 6-4 lead when starter Nathan Eovaldi exited after six innings. Dane Dunning threw 1 2/3 innings but left after he loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Jose Leclerc came in but walked in two straight runs to to tie the game.

Leclerc walked the leadoff batter in the ninth before yielding to Will Smith. Leclerc ended up absorbing his second blown save and the loss when Smith gave up an RBI single to TJ Friedl, which scored Jonathan India from second.

Dunning and Leclerc combined for five walks. Smith didn't help by also throwing a wild pitch to advance India.

But it was Dunning and Leclerc who had trouble commanding the strike zone Monday.

“We just had trouble throwing strikes,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We pretty much hurt ourselves with the walks and it caught up to us. They laid off some tough pitches. But, you know, that’s not us. It just got away from us.”

In a vacuum, that could be seen as an aberration. But the bullpen did something similar Friday in a 5-4 loss to Oakland.

That night the Rangers had an early 4-0 lead and starter Jon Gray left the game in line for the win with Rangers up 4-3. But Gray left a mess for Jonathan Hernández to clean up and he couldn’t quite get out of the two-on, one-out jam. After striking out Kevin Smith, he gave up a game-tying RBI single to Esteury Ruiz.

The Rangers bullpen faltered again in the top of the ninth. Smith gave up a one-out solo home run to Jordan Diaz to give the Athletics a 5-4 win.

Before Monday’s loss the Rangers bullpen had given up one run or less in seven consecutive games and had shaved its overall ERA down to 2.61, second-best in the Majors. (The New York Yankees, who come to Arlington on Thursday, had the best at 2.44.)

But the Texas bullpen had also seen its ERA rise to 3.61 in a 14-game stretch entering Monday from a season-low of 0.67. At one point, the bullpen threw 23 2/3 scoreless innings from March 30 to April 7, the team’s fourth-longest streak since 1974.

The Rangers have also only converted three of six save chances this season.

Based on their track record so far this season, Bochy felt he had the right pitchers out there. But their inability to find the zone was ill-timed.

“You hate to have that, especially when you come out and you get a lead the way we did,” Bochy said.

The Rangers look to tie the series Tuesday night with Martín Pérez (3-1, 3.38) on the mound and Luke Weaver (0-1, 6.00) going for Cincinnati. First pitch is scheduled for 5:40 p.m.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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