DETROIT — The Texas Rangers desperately needed what they got from their bullpen on Monday night — four scoreless innings in a 1-0 win over the Detroit Tigers.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy used the struggling Jose Leclerc and two of his high-leverage relievers, David Robertson and Kirby Yates, to secure the win. It was Yates who got the save, his first of the season.
“We’ll keep it open,” Bochy said. “But I like the way he’s throwing the ball right now.”
Yates threw a perfect ninth, inducing three groundouts. The right-hander threw eight pitches and earned his sixth save since the start of last season. He just turned 37 and has 63 career saves, including an MLB-high 41 in 2019 with San Diego, which led to his only All-Star Game selection.
Robertson handled the eighth and it was a bit of an adventure for the right-hander, who turned 39 last week. He gave up a one-out double to Mark Canha, and then Spencer Torkleson took first base due to a catcher’s interference call on the Rangers’ Jonah Heim.
Robertson then got Kerry Carpenter to line out to a perfectly-aligned Josh Smith at shortstop and struck out rookie Wenceel Perez to escape the jam.
Robertson has worked primarily as a set-up man so far, but he has more saves than anyone on the roster with 175.
But it was Leclerc who came up big. Bochy leaned on the right-hander for two innings instead of his usual one, hoping to rest an overtaxed bullpen.
