Cleveland Indians bullpen is ready and waiting to hold any lead

The Cleveland Indians bullpen has been great all season, but has been limited due to some inefficiency from both the offense and the starting rotation.

The Cleveland Indians have done plenty to frustrate fans in 2017, but the bullpen has been relatively safe from any hot takes.

That is because the Indians bullpen has been better than advertised this season. The graphic in the following tweet sheds light on just how good they have been.

The past 11 games illustrate the dominance in the bullpen. The problem is that the offense has struggled, neutralizing the effectiveness of the bullpen, which has been a major cause of why fans are so frustrated. Even a one-run lead may be enough once the game gets to the bullpen.

But even when the offense struggles, the relief pitchers are still dominant. That was clear last night when Corey Kluber was pulled after just three innings due to what appears to be a nagging back injury.

He was replaced by Shawn Armstrong, who began the year on the roster but was sent down in favor of Nick Goody, who I will get to in a second.

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Armstrong was great in his return, going 2.2 innings without allowing a hit. In response to that, Goody followed with 1.2 no-hit innings of his own. Boone Logan then got the final two outs against the Tigers without allowing a hit.

Five innings of no-hit baseball, with a majority of those coming from the backend of the bullpen, is impressive.

There is not a weak link among the group, and Terry Francona can continue to terrorize opposing lineups by properly utilizing what is now an eight-man bullpen. Whether another position player is called up and a pitcher is sent back down remains to be seen.

This dominance is so frustrating because it is essentially going to waste when the offense has nights like last night, when scoring just two runs was a struggle. Andrew Miller and Cody Allen didn’t even pitch and the bullpen no-hit the Tigers.

The team is clearly so close to playing at an elite level fans are left wondering if it will happen in 2017.

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It is hard to imagine players like Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kipnis, and Carlos Santana will struggle all year, so there is plenty of hope from fans. Because when the entire lineup is clicking, any lead held after the fifth inning should be safe with this bullpen.