Cleveland's Bullpen Implosion Puts Guardians In Tough Spot
The Cleveland Guardians have had one of the best bullpens in baseball through the first half of the season. That's saying something considering they've played their fair share of one-run games.
However, not every bullpen can be perfect for 162 games and they learned that the hard way against the Texas Rangers' explosive offense.
Aaron Civale started the first game back from the All-Star break and looked strong early on. He pitched 5.0 innings and only have up two runs on five hits. However, Terry Francona and Carl Willis were worried about him going back to see the Rangers lineup the third time so they opted to go with their bullpen arms.
Eli Morgan was the first one out of the pen and he only made one out before he was pulled. Morgan walked a batter, gave up two hits, and allowed a run to score.
Next up was Nick Sandlin who did get out of the inning for Morgan, but did not head back out after that.
Sam Hentges was the third relief pitcher and this is where the trouble really settled in. The lefty gave up three runs and didn't even record an out before Tito had to head back to the bullpen.
Enyel De Los Santos was the next up as he pitched one full inning. But he allowed two runs on three hits in the seventh which allowed the Rangers to extend their lead.
Cody Morris finished off the night for the Guardians and had a pretty rough outing. Texas teed off for three home runs in one inning off the righty and extended the lead to eight runs.
As bad as this outing was for Cleveland, it could also have massive implications in the coming days. Shane Bieber is officially headed to the injured list which leaves an open starting spot for Monday.
The Guardians are also down five of their bullpen arms for the second game of the series which means we'll likely see Trevor Stephan, Tim Herrin, Xzavion Curry, and Emmanuel Clase pitch no matter what the score is.
Emptying the bullpen in a matter of two days while also having a big question mark in the rotation means we'll likely see some roster moves made in order to get fresh arms with the Big League club.
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