'Thin' Texas Rangers Bullpen Keeps Options Limited

Bruce Bochy acknowledges the elephant in the Texas Rangers clubhouse: 'We have a thin bullpen right now.'

HOUSTON – Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was at a loss for words so he just came out and said the obvious: "We have a thin bullpen right now."

Bochy was still smarting moments after Monday's 10-9 loss to the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros rallied to score four runs off the Rangers bullpen, including Chas McCormick's three-run homer against Aroldis Chapman in the seventh, and Yainer Diaz's game-winning RBI single off Alex Speas in the bottom of the ninth. 

Walks were again an issue. Chapman walked two before McCormick's homer, and Speas walked two before Diaz jumped on an 0-2 cutter over the middle of the plate.

In their last three losses, Rangers pitchers have walked 22 batters.

"That’s too many, especially in this ballpark against a club like this. We got to be better on the mound," Bochy said.

Why use Speas, a rookie in his third MLB appearance, in the ninth inning of a tie game?

"Well, we’re on the road, so [co-closer Will] Smith is going to pitch an inning," Bochy explained. "We were hoping [Speas] could get us through to the ninth. When we didn’t score in the 9th, we go with another guy, being on the road. That’s the thinking."

If the game had reached the 10th, Speas likely would have remained on the mound, Bochy said.

"He’s got good stuff, he just has trouble getting it over," he said. "We have a thin bullpen right now. Smith had been used the day before so I didn’t have him for more than an inning, so we were hoping we could get through to the ninth and have him for the 10th."

Why not use Brock Burke again in the ninth? He threw a nine-pitch perfect eighth.

"No, he could not. We check with guys," Bochy said. "There’s always a thought. I get that question a lot. Trust me. I promise you, we do think about a lot of things. But he threw yesterday, and we talked to him.”

Burke threw an eight-pitch, perfect seventh inning in Sunday's 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The only other bullpen options were rookies Owen White and Cody Bradford. One of them is likely to start Tuesday's game, which the Rangers had not announced late Monday night.

Bochy said each of them was a potential option Monday, but he chose to roll with Speas.

"Speas had one really good outing, the other was a little shaky," he said. "But where he was with his stuff. we were just hoping he could get over the plate with his stuff."

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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