Déjà vu: Rangers drop series after 2nd blown lead

CINCINNATI -- Do you get déjà vu? Well the Rangers certainly do.

For the second night in a row, the Rangers roared out to a big lead at Great American Ball Park, putting together a great offensive performance behind a solid starter on the mound before the bullpen took over and surrendered winning runs in the late innings against the struggling Reds.

Both games even ended in the same score.

On Tuesday night, the bullpen duo of Cole Ragans and Ian Kennedy combined to surrender six runs on five hits, one walk and a hit by pitch in the eighth inning as the Rangers fell, 7-6, to the Reds to drop the series.

In the past five games, the Rangers have blown three late-game leads of four or more runs to two of MLB’s worst teams in the A’s and Reds.

“They’re tough losses,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “It's not easy to go through two tough losses like this back-to-back, but we got to bounce back. You have no choice. And trust me, they all feel bad. I know I feel horrible, but we got to move on and just keep pushing.”

Both losses feel especially bad knowing the offense has more than done its job.

The one difference in the two nights was that Martín Pérez had one of his best outings of the season Tuesday, tossing 6 1/3 strong innings. The southpaw struck out five, surrendered one unearned run and left the game with the chance to secure his fourth win of the year.

“The last two nights, their starters have put us at bay for the majority of the game,” Cincinnati center fielder Nick Senzel said. “When the game flips to the bullpen, we’ve been able to find some openings. Those are the moments to take advantage of. The game is not over until it’s over. Keep putting pressure on them. We’ve talked as a group of applying the pressure. Early in the game, we have not done a great job of that. It seems like the last two nights, we’ve done it the hard way at the end.”

The Rangers rightfully spent so much money this offseason on starting pitching, but returning ace Pérez has been the most consistent starter for the most part early this season.

Each of his five starts this season has gone five or more innings with three or fewer runs allowed. He has 24 strikeouts to just eight walks, consistently getting strikeouts and inducing ground balls to keep any potential damage to a minimum before turning it over to the bullpen.

“[I liked] everything tonight,” Pérez said of his own outing. “I had almost all my pitches, I was on my rhythm, pounding the zone and locating my pitches really good. It was a really good game [for me]. ... It happens [with the bullpen tonight]. I trust my teammates and the bullpen. This was one of the games where you don’t get the result you're looking for. But we'll be OK. I think we just have to come back tomorrow and try to win again.”

The Rangers’ bullpen was reliable through the first few weeks of the season.

From Opening Day through the conclusion of the three-game sweep in Kansas City last Wednesday, Rangers relievers ranked second in the AL with a 2.71 ERA. They gave up just 25 total runs (21 earned) in those first 18 games and generally kept Texas in games.

Since the start of the series with the A’s on Friday, the bullpen has a 6.75 ERA in 13 1/3 innings (plus an additional unearned run). They’ve allowed 13 hits and eight walks in that time span.

Bochy said he doesn’t think there’s anything in particular affecting the bullpen right now. The solution seems almost simple.

“I think as much as anything, we just have to pitch better,” Bochy said. “Throw quality strikes, don't beat yourself. This experience, hopefully, will help everybody. It's not fun to go through it, trust me. But it's up to myself, and we'll get this back in order and get back to being who we were throughout the first two, three weeks of the year.”