ARLINGTON, Texas – There just isn’t any other way to say it: It’s them. They’re the problem.
It’s early in the season for finger-pointing, but this is where the Rangers are. The only thing that threatens their strong start is a bullpen that, to be frank, is a mess. On Wednesday, the Rangers tried new faces in high-leverage places, only to again come up empty in a 6-5 loss to Atlanta.
On Wednesday, it was Josh Sborz and Brock Burke who made a mess of the last two innings after the Rangers grinded down Spencer Strider and built a two-run lead.
Sborz had been elevated to setup guy, well, Wednesday to replace Jonathan Hernández, whose meltdown in May had bullpen maestro Bruce Bochy searching for answers. Arter Sborz blew the lead in the eighth with a leadoff walk and a pair of poorly located 0-2 pitches to a dangerous lineup, Burke allowed a one-out homer to No. 8 hitter Orlando Arcía in the ninth.
Would you say have a problem on your hands, Bruce?
“It’s evident with how it’s been going,” Bochy said. “We’re trying to mix it up a little bit. But we’ve got to get it figured out.”
It was the Rangers’ eighth blown save in 17 attempts and already their fifth loss in a game they trailed after seven.
Each one gets a little bit tougher to swallow. This one had its own litany of plot points. Corey Seager returned to the Rangers’ lineup, which had held fast for a month without him. Though he lost his shutout streak at 29.2 innings, Nathan Eovaldi still outdueled Spencer Strider, the best starter in the NL thus far.
But, wait: There’s more. Adolis García did what no player or team had ever done against Strider – hit more than one home run in a game. García led the way for the Rangers’ lineup, which made adjustments to catch up with Strider’s fastball, with a fourth-inning homer to get them on the board and a fifth-inning homer that extended the lead to 4-2. It gives him 13 homers for the season and 46 RBIs through the Rangers’ first 43 games. Both figures lead the AL.
And they still lost.
Sborz walked the first batter he faced, Ronald Acuña, to start the eighth, then made a pair of egregious 0-2 mistakes to allow run-scoring hits to Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley. Burke bailed him out of the inning, but then allowed the go-ahead homer to Arcía with one out in the ninth.
“I don’t look at what it might do to the team,” Bochy said. “I don’t measure it that way. I look for us to bounce back. They’ve done that all year. It’s going to be up to us to figure out how to do that after this one.”