Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy could not hide his furor following Game 5 of the ALCS on Friday night.
After his team surrendered a ninth inning lead and fell to the Houston Astros 5-4 Bochy unloaded on the umpire crew, practically placing blame on them for the loss. His gripe? An eighth inning delay after both benches cleared, leading to multiple ejections.
Astros relief pitcher Bryan Abreu was ruled to have hit Rangers outfielder Adolis García intentionally. An obviously frustrated García immediately got in the face of catcher Martin Maldonado and after a little shoving, players from both sides spilled out onto the field.
Abreu and García were both ejected after things settled down, but then Astros manager Dusty Baker took the field to argue. That resulted in an additional delay, totaling approximately 25 minutes.
“I was concerned about that delay. I really was,” Bochy told reporters after the game, via ABC News. “It was a long one. It was taking too long, to be honest. The whole thing is a bunch of crap, to be honest, what happened there. Who knows what intentions are, but it’s not the first time it’s happened, and couldn’t get the game going again.”
Because of the lengthy delay, Rangers closer Jose Leclerc was forced to sit on the bench for an extended period of time. When he finally took the mound again in the top of the ninth inning, things went completely haywire. He surrendered a three-run home run to Jose Altuve and was charged with both a blown save and the loss.
“I’m sure it affected him, because he came in to get an out there in the eighth inning. Maybe that played a part in it,” Bochy said.
Leclerc wasn’t as quick to lay blame or make any excuses.
“I need to execute my pitches and do a better job,” he said via translation after the loss.
Bochy clearly saw things through a different lens and believed this was some sort of gamesmanship. And given Houston’s questionable past, it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
