Cleveland Indians: The “Bullpen Day” Was Not a Failure

The Cleveland Indians ditched the idea of a starting pitcher Monday night, and although the team lost the experiment was not a total failure.

When the Cleveland Indians lose a game, the focus tends to be on what went wrong instead of what went right.

The Indians dropped last night’s series opener against the Houston Astros by the score of 6-2 on a night when the Indians sent eight pitchers to the mound. This was not due to the starting pitcher collapsing, but rather as a plan by Terry Francona to go with relievers for the entire game.

The move came as a result of skipping Josh Tomlin in the rotation, although the struggling starter did pitch a scoreless ninth inning in relief.

The other highlight was the pitching of rookie Perci Garner, who went 2 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and no runs allowed.

Out of the six total runs, only four were earned, as two costly errors by the defense allowed two runs to come across. And on a night when the offense could only muster two runs, the eight relievers never stood a chance.

The two runs scored means it may not have mattered who was pitching. And after five consecutive games of scoring at least five runs, the offense was bound to come back down to Earth.

It remains to be seen if the Indians will use this strategy once again when Tomlin’s spot comes up again in the rotation, but nothing from Monday night should make Francona automatically throw out the option. And with Cy Young candidate Corey Kluber being next up in the rotation, the bullpen can realistically expect a slow day when he takes the mound.

There is also the fact that with the expanded rosters eight relievers can take the mound, as they did Monday night, with Andrew Miller and Cody Allen not being part of that group. So if several pitchers have somewhat long outings on a “bullpen day” the Indians still have the top two relievers ready to go for Kluber’s start.

Using this style of pitching is something we may see in the future, but it is tough to implement in September while in the midst of fighting for a division title. Tomlin may not be the answer at the fifth spot in the rotation, but Mike Clevinger or even Ryan Merritt could hold down the role until the playoffs begin, when only four starters are used.

Next: 3 Takeaways from the 6-2 Loss

This is not to say the “bullpen day” was a total failure, but if Francona wants to use this strategy for the rest of the season he needs to decide soon and begin formulating a plan of how to use his relievers effectively throughout the entire week in preparation for the next “bullpen day.”