TORONTO — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Friday night that the club would “revisit” the role and usage of left-handed relief pitcher Robert Garcia after another tumultuous outing.
On Saturday, before the team’s second game against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, he acknowledged that the status quo may no longer be satisfactory.
“I think it’s fair that we have to adjust in the bullpen,” Bochy said Saturday. “We’ll try to find a better spot for him.”
Bochy had initially wanted to find a “softer” entry point into games for Garcia after his consecutive blown saves in Seattle earlier this month. But the Rangers — whose bullpen has been tasked to cover more high-leverage innings (12 1/3) than any team in baseball this month in large part due to a faulty offense that hasn’t staked sizable leads — have had limited opportunities to do so.
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Garcia has pitched in five games since he was effectively demoted from the closer role. Three of those games were either tied or separated by just one run at his time of entry. The other two — including Friday’s loss — were three-run games. He allowed four earned runs on three home runs, eight total hits and two walks in those five games. Since Aug. 1, a seven-game span, he’s allowed seven runs in five innings pitched and has a 12.60 ERA.
His Location+ rating — which evaluates a player’s ability to locate pitches on a scale where 100 is considered league average — is below-average at 78 since the start of the month. It had been rated 98 the rest of the season prior.
The plan Friday night, Bochy said, was to use Garcia against a pocket of left-handed hitters that he’d theoretically have an advantage against. He only got one of the two out, though, before right-handed catcher Alejandro Kirk drilled a two-run home run against him and kickstarted a bullpen spiral.
Garcia, 29, was acquired this offseason from the Washington Nationals in exchange for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and is not eligible for arbitration for another two years. Lowe, who was designated for assignment Thursday by the Nationals, was officially released Saturday afternoon.
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