Double-Blown Saves Almost Never Happen in Texas Rangers History

The Texas Rangers franchise has only suffered blown saves like Monday night just three times in its 63-year existence.

How rare was the double-blown-save performance by the Texas Rangers on Monday night?

Well, it’s only happened three times in franchise history.

The Rangers endured blown saves in the ninth inning from Aroldis Chapman and 11th by Will Smith in the 4-3 walk-off loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

On just two previous occasions in the 63 seasons of the Washington/Texas franchise has the team endured blown saves in both the ninth and extra innings. Those occurred on June 15, 2021 at the Houston Astros (Josh Sborz/Demarcus Evans) and May 30, 1993 at the Boston Red Sox (Tom Henke/Jeff Bronkey).

Those previous duos don’t have near the pedigree of Chapman and Smith, who have combined for 431 career saves. Both have also been closers for World Series champions.

But both have also had their issues in a shaky Texas bullpen lately. Rangers relievers have allowed 17 runs in 16 innings during the club’s current five-game losing streak, spiking the season ERA from 4.52 to 4.66, which is fourth-highest in American League.

The recent struggles have helped the Astros and Seattle Mariners close the gap in the AL West. Texas (72-53) went into Tuesday’s series finale at Arizona up 1.5 games on Houston and 2.0 games on Seattle.

“Hey, nobody said this was going to be easy,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ve got to bounce back.”

The Rangers have suffered three blown saves in three of the last four games after failing to close out a win just once over the previous 20 games. The bullpen still has 3.69 ERA (25 ER/61 IP) over 19 games in August.

On the season, the bullpen has the fewest innings (409 1/3) and second-fewest strikeouts (396) among MLB relief units. Texas is just 24-for-46 (52.2%) in save opportunities, which is the fourth-fewest saves and fourth-lowest save percentage in the AL.

Smith, with a team-high 22 saves, and Grant Anderson lead the team with four blown saves each.

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