Bullpen Blues

July 6th, 2009 | by jelletlambie |

On a night when Armando Galarraga gave his ballclub everything he had, his offense and his bullpen gave him very little in return.

The Tigers fell to the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Monday night, their lead over the Twins in the AL Central lead slipping to 1.5 games in the process. The White Sox now sit two games back. Both Minnesota and Chicago were off tonight, presenting the Tigers with an opportunity to gain ground on both with a victory. Until the eighth inning it appeared that would be the case.

Armando Galarraga looked like the 2008 version of himself tonight, perhaps better, tossing seven strong innings. He allowed five hits, one walk and fanned seven Royals, leaving the game with a 2-1 lead that wouldn’t hold up. Joel Zumaya entered in the eighth inning and quickly allowed the Royals to take the lead. Zumaya started leadoff hitter Miguel Olivo with two curve balls that put the count at 0-2. Then for reasons unbeknownst to man or machine he proceeded to throw him a fastball right down the proverbial middle of the plate. Olivo singled. After a failed bunt attempt from Michigan native Mitch Maier Joel walked David DeJesus. Willie Bloomquist followed with a two run triple to deep right centerfield that put the Royals ahead 3-2. Joel was credited with a blown save, his fifth of the season.

Since June 4th Zumaya has allowed nine earned runs in 11.1 innings pitched (7.15 ERA), surrendering 14 hits and 15 walks (2.56 WHIP) against 10 strike outs.

The Tigers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning when Ryan Raburn doubled to right center plating pinch runner Josh Anderson, who ran for Marcus Thames following his one out walk. Raburn made a costly baserunning mistake however when he attempted to stretch his double into a triple and was gunned down by about ten feet for the second out of the inning. Brandon Inge grounded out to short to send the game to the ninth inning knotted at three runs a piece.

I’ve written before about Fernando Rodney and his struggles in non-save situations. For whatever reason Rodney has been awful this year in contests that can not reward his presence with a save. be it a large lead or a tie ball game like this contest. He certainly lived up that reputation tonight.

Fernando struck out Jose Guillen swinging before surrendering a back breaking moon shot to Mike Jacobs. He would later allow a Miguel Olivo single before retiring the side. He took the loss, running his record to 0-2. Former Tiger Roman Colon picked up the win, his first of the season, while Joakim Soria recorded his 13th save. Counting tonights game Fernando Rodney has now posted the following numbers in 19 non-save situational appearances this year:

19 Innings pitched, 15 earned runs allowed (7.11 ERA), 21 hits, 9 walks (1.58 WHIP), 14 K’s

Of course the Tigers offense did little to give the pitching staff a cushion to work with. The Tigers scored three runs or less in a game for the 37th time this year out of 82 games played. The team did manage 13 base runners tonight but could plate only three. Ryan Raburn continued his hot hitting, belting a solo home run in the sixth inning and doubling home the tying run in the eighth. Marcus Thames provided the other Tigers run with a solo shot of his own in the second frame.

The Tigers grounded into three double plays, were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners on the night.

Justin Verlander (8-4, 3.54 ERA) will push for redemption tomorrow night when he squares off against Bruce Chen (0-2, 4.38 ERA) at 7:05 PM.

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