'Frustration' boils over for Bochy on fruitless offensive night

NEW YORK – For eight innings on Tuesday night, the Rangers did nothing on offense against the Yankees, and it proved costly in a 5-2 loss at Yankee Stadium.

During those eight innings, Texas went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Manager Bruce Bochy felt his team had a tough time picking up the ball because it had six called third strikes.

“It looked like they were not picking up the ball. I haven’t seen this club do what it did tonight,” the skipper said. “They had called third strikes. Some of them were right there. It looked like the fastball had a little hop or jump to it. It was getting on them.”

Yankees right-hander Will Warren started the game and the Rangers had a tough time figuring him out. He had nine strikeouts in the first five innings.

“To have that many strikeouts, it’s pretty evident that he was on top of his game. He had some deception out there. He had guys chasing the breaking ball. We either took the fastball or we were late on it. We were in between tonight,” Bochy said. “Tonight, we were just off. .. We’ve had our tough games, but I haven’t quite seen us off this much.”

The Rangers were down, 2-0, when they had a chance to at least tie the game in the sixth inning with Warren still on the mound. Texas had the bases loaded with one out, but Marcus Semien struck out. Warren was then taken out of the game in favor of Mark Leiter Jr., who was able to end the threat by striking out Joc Pederson.

“We had them loaded and we couldn’t get a productive out to get [the game] closer,” Bochy said. “We just couldn’t get a hit there. When you are facing somebody good, hopefully you take advantage of the opportunities. Tonight, we didn’t. We had a couple of good hitters [in the batter’s box] and the Yankees made pitches.”

Bochy was so frustrated that he was ejected by home-plate umpire Carlos Torres in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes when Aaron Judge was at the plate.

“That was a strike, but still, we are in a tough run right now. Not getting some calls. It has hurt us in some games. More than anything, it’s frustration. But still, we have to swing it better,” Bochy said.

If there was a silver lining in the game, the Rangers didn’t give up. Down 5-0 in the ninth, Jonah Heim swung at a 2-2 pitch from Ian Hamilton and hit a two-run homer to make it a three-run game. Hamilton then allowed a triple to Sam Haggerty before being taken out of the game in favor of closer Luke Weaver. It took Weaver only two pitches to get Josh Smith to pop up to DJ LeMahieu to end the game.

“We had some good at-bats [in the ninth inning]. I just missed one during that last at-bat for me. It was a good effort towards the end,” Smith said.

Rangers left-hander Patrick Corbin gave a good effort, lasting five innings, plus two batters in the sixth, and allowing three runs. The way the Rangers were hitting, Corbin had to be perfect. He was behind by the second inning when he allowed a solo homer to Ben Rice.

“Corbin did a nice job. He pitched well against that [Yankees] lineup,” Bochy said. “I know they have had success against lefties. That’s what is disappointing. Your guy does a pretty good job keeping you in the game. We just couldn't get some runs for him.”