Tim Herrin has officially become Guardians' biggest bullpen liability

The Cleveland Guardians' loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday was a bullpen implosion in every way. After Tanner Bibee gave the Guardians six strong innings and left the game in line for his first win of the season, Colin Holderman, Tim Herrin and Codi Heuer threw it all away thanks to a disastrous seventh inning.

By the time Heuer recorded the final out of the inning on a Marcelo Mayer ground, the Guardians 4-3 lead had turned into a 9-3 loss.

And the most frusrating performance from that bullpen came from Herrin, who gave up three runs in 1/3 of an inning and allowed all three of his inheritated runners to score,

It was about as disastrous of an outing as you can have.

Tim Herrin's strong start seems like a distant memory

Herrin was called into the game with one out and runners on second and third after Holderman had his roughest outing since being recalled. His goal was clear: Get the left-handed hitting Jarren Duran out.

But instead he walked him on five pitches.

While he was able to respond and strike out Mickey Gasper, he surrendered a back-breaking game-tying walk to Wilyer Abreu. Herrin's pitch was clearly out of the zone, but the Guardians weren't able to challenge thanks to Cleveland blowing both of its challenges on offense.

“It’s frustrating, but that's on us,” catcher Austin Hedges said after the game, per MLB.com's Tim Stebbins. “We shouldn't have lost our challenges. It's what they're there for, and we’ve got to take accountability and be better at it.”

While that ABS problem may not have lost the Guardians the game, it sure didn't help them.

In fact, the most concerning thing from the loss may be Herrin's struggles continuing. After starting the year with 12 2/3 scoreless innings, he's posted a 7.11 ERA over his last nine appearances with five walks.

The Guardians ended up demoting him to Triple-A midway through last season due to those command issues, and we're starting to get to a point where those issues are making that a serious possibility (if we haven't gotten there already).

Herrin's walk against the Red Sox isn't as egregious as some of his other ways considering it was technically in the strike zone, it's still discouraging to see him on the mound for yet another bullpen meltdown.

He also followed that walk by allowing a two-run single to Masataka Yoshida (another left-hander).

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt replaced Herrin with Heuer, who gave up three runs on a single and triple.

Cade Smith may have turned into the best closer in baseball, but that doesnt seem like as big of a advantage when the Guardians' bullpen can't hold leads.

Herrin is still an important pitcher on the Guardians' roster considering he's one of two left-handers along with longman Will Dion. But Herrin's struggles could alsoend up costing him that spot on the roster if he doesn't turn things around soon.

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