The Texas Rangers’ double meltdown against the Diamondbacks on Monday is now among their low points of the season, and Bruce Bochy made clear to his group that he was willing to wear it.
Texas coughed up not one but two leads in the 4-3 loss in 11 innings, wasting a four-hit, eight-inning gem from Jordan Montgomery.
Aroldis Chapman got the ball in the ninth with a 1-0 lead and promptly coughed up a solo shot to Ketel Marte. After a scoreless 10th, the Rangers put two runs on the board in the 11th, turning the ball over to Will Smith to preserve the lead in the bottom half.
Smith retired the first two hitters he faced, but it was at that point things unraveled. Marte was due up and Bochy, not wanting to get burned again, made the ill-fated decision to intentionally walk the second baseman. Geraldo Perdomo and Tommy Pham responded with back-to-back RBI doubles to earn the win.
Bochy said Tuesday in his weekly appearance on “The K&C Masterpiece” that he took ownership for the loss immediately afterwards.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say (tough losses) affect your mood at times, I mean we’re human,” Bochy conceded. “After the game I got the group together in the clubhouse and said ‘Hey, I’ll own that one.’ I decided to walk Marte there, he’s such a big right-handed bat I didn’t want to get burned again. 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.
“You have your moments in this game where some sting more than others, but sure, last night we got hit twice. We had a one-run lead in the ninth, the home run got us, then had the two-run lead and we couldn’t hold onto it. 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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