Perhaps the most obvious piece of the Code is the mandate to shut down aggressive play on offense while holding a big lead late in the game. But what about pitching?
On Wednesday, Bruce Bochy went to his bullpen three times—going righty-lefty-righty with Guillermo Mota, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo—to face four batters in the ninth inning against the Rockies. The Giants led 8-3.
“I’ve been here a few times and I’ve seen some comebacks that are hard to stop,” Bochy said in the San Jose Mercury News. “You don’t want to get a rally started here because momentum gets going.”
There’s no indication that the Rockies were annoyed by such tactics, and perhaps they shouldn’t have been. However, were manager Jim Tracy the type to get rankled over a stolen base by a team holding a five-run, ninth inning lead, it only stands to follow that this might get under his skin, as well.