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When you're behind on the scoreboard, you want activity, events, chaos, action. When you're ahead you want the game to be still.
Backgammon, you're losing, you want to leave blots around the board, tempt the other player to leave them in order to hit, just muddy the water. It's your only chance.
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At the time Olivo stepped to the plate, the Rangers had a 33% chance of losing -- assuming an out there, their chance of losing drops to 23%. You've got to do something.
That is assuming (1) an average Rangers bullpen and (2) an average Mariners lineup.
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100 years of baseball wisdom is 100% aligned with game theory. If you're behind, do everything you can to get tied or ahead, and worry about protecting the lead later.