'That's On Me:' Bruce Bochy Takes Blame For Texas Rangers' Excruciating Loss

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told his team that Monday's loss in 11 innings was his fault.

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy hasn't had many discouraging moments in his first season with the club but Monday certainly qualified.

Bochy took the blame for Monday's extra-excruciating 4-3 loss in 11 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

“After the game, I got the group together in the clubhouse and said ‘I’ll own that one,’" Bochy told 105.3 The Fan during his weekly appearance on "The K&C Masterpiece."

Leading 3-1 with two outs and the automatic runner on second in the bottom of the 11th, Bochy chose to have Will Smith intentionally walk Ketel Marte, who had tied the game at 1-1 with a homer off Aroldis Chapman.

Smith then gave up consecutive doubles to Geraldo Perdomo and Tommy Pham, as the Diamondbacks walked it off and sent the Rangers to their season-worst five consecutive loss.

"He’s such a big right-handed bat I didn’t want to get burned again," Bochy said. "We have some history, I’ve seen him a lot back when I was with the Giants and he’s just a big threat. It didn’t work out, and I told the guys that’s on me."

It's only the third regular-season loss in club history in which the Rangers blew saves in both the 9th inning and an extra inning. The others occurred on June 15, 2021, at Houston (with Josh Sborz and Demarcus Evans on the mound) and May 30, 1993, at Boston (with Tom Henke and Jeff Bronkey on the mound).

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say (tough losses) affect your mood at times," Bochy said. "I mean, we’re human." 

“You have your moments in this game where some sting more than others, but sure, last night we got hit twice," he added. "Those games are going to bother you. I don’t care who you are, the players, the coaches, the manager.

“But with that said, you can’t hold onto it, you wash it off as we say, flush it. But it takes longer on some games than others, there’s no getting around that.”

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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