Torquing a bolt is always designed to stretch it. For a lot of bolts, it is not possible to measure the stretch (e.g. head bolts, main cap bolts, etc.), so a torque specification is all you can go by. But since you can measure the stretch of a rod bolt with a gauge, it is always best to go that route. I have seen the same issues as Chris, where in some cases the correct stretch requires more torque than the manufacturer specifies. But for years I never used a rod bolt stretch gauge, and never had a bolt related failure just using the torque specs that the manufacturer provided. So I don't think I'd get too worked up if the rod bolts were just torqued to spec, without measuring stretch. Probably not going to be an issue.