Cincinnatis Terry Francona and Texas’ Bruce Bochy continue their leading rivalry Tuesday in the second game in a three-game set that Reds hosts Rangers.
The two veterans have a combined six World Series titles. Last time two managers met in an ordinary season series with six or more titles came in 2010 when Joe Torre and his four titles squared against Francon’s Boston Red Sox.
It also happened that season when Torres New York Yankees met against Tony La Rusas St. Louis Cardinals.
Now Francona, who won two championships in Boston, and Bochy, who won three with San Francisco Giants and another with Texas, will square.
With a 14-3 Cincinnati victory on Monday in the opener of the series, Bochy’s leadership is all the time down to 30-28. The two have been combined for the 20 playoffs but have never succeeded against each other during the season.
“He is so much of what’s good in our game,” Francona said before Monday. “I don’t have to compare (management styles). He’s unique.”
Bochy (2,174 wins) and Francona (1,952) are the two best active managers in victories, with San Francisco’s Bob Melvin a remote third of 1,600.
Francona hopes for more offensive fireworks from Elly de la Cruz on Tuesday. The Cincinnati card stop switched to the “Torpedo” wood for the Monday game, and it resulted in two home races, a double and a 4-for-5-night with a career high seven RBI.
“It felt good, really good,” De La Cruz said of the unique taper that enables more weight closer to the handle on the bat. “I just wanted to know if it felt good, and it did.”
De la Cruz spoke to the teammate and former New York Yankees -Catcher Jose Trevino about the bat and decided to try it in a game after using it in batting exercise. Yankees is the team that gets the most attention for their use of torpedo bats.
Bochy and Rangers will send Ace Nathan Eovaldi (0-0, 3.00 era) to Haugen and even watch the series. The right -hander threw six rounds in the season opener on Thursday against Boston Red Sox, which enabled two runs on three hits, knocked out nine and went no one in a decision without a decision.
Eovaldi is 1-0 with a 1.67 era in four career starts against Cincinnati.
The reds will counteract with the right hand Carson Spiers and make their season debut in 2025. Spiers were 5-7 with a 5.46 era in 22 performances (10 starts) over three stints with Cincinnati last season.
Spiers, who went 1-1 with a 2.57 era in four spring training appearance with the reds, will make their first career start against Texas.
Before he arrived in Cincinnati, Rangers won three of his first four matches at home, even though he made only 13 runs in the series against Red Sox. With the Monday loss to the reds, Rangers has received four runs or fewer in all five matches. While the crime fought, the rear end of the bull was a bright place in the opening series, then was not needed on Monday.
On Sunday, Luke Jackson got his second rescue in three days and knocked out Alex Bregman with runners on first and second to finish a 3-2 victory. Jackson bounced back from taking the loss in the opener.
“I thought he went into the closer role really well,” said Texas Catcher Kyle Higashioka. “I mean, obviously a rough first night, but the last couple’s performances have been really, really good, so probably the most difficult role in baseball for a shipper, and he is a great time for us.”
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