Bullpen has rare bad game vs. AL West-best Rangers

ARLINGTON -- Now that it’s official that Shane Bieber will miss his next start on Monday due to right forearm soreness, the Guardians needed their bullpen to have an easy and efficient weekend in Texas to enter Monday well-rested. But Friday night's second-half opener certainly did not follow that plan.

The Guardians jumped out to an early four-run lead in the series opener against Texas, as the Naylor brothers each hit a two-run homer in the third inning. But as the game went on, the bullpen imploded, resulting in a 12-4 Guardians loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

“This is a special bullpen,” Guardians catcher Bo Naylor said. “I think this isn’t going to put them down.”

The start of the second half of the season can be tricky for relievers. Sometimes, they can go a few days in between outings, but for the entire group to collectively have four days off is more rest than a team would probably like.

And when the Guardians are already trying to balance getting their relievers work to start the second half, it becomes even harder when they have a possible bullpen game on Monday lingering in the back of their heads to replace Bieber.

“You know, the first day back [from the break], you’re always worried,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “Part of me wanted to get guys in and not have them throw too much. Didn’t want it to go like this. But you’d like to get guys on the mound just to take the edge off.”

The Guardians started working relievers into the mix in the sixth inning. Aaron Civale had a solid outing, giving up two runs in five innings, but following an eight-pitch fifth, he was removed from the game after throwing just 79 pitches.

“He started tiring in the fifth,” Francona said.

“Trying to give it my all every time out there,” Civale said. “Sometimes, it’s 100-plus pitches. Sometimes, it’s not.”

Civale is the lone veteran remaining in the rotation, as Bieber, Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie are all battling injuries. This means Civale will need to be the reliable starter who can eat up innings for the immediate future to keep the young arms from having to take on heavy workloads.

But Civale was taken out of the game before the sixth, and that left at least three innings for the bullpen to fill. When things went sideways, more pitches ended up being thrown than anticipated.

Eli Morgan ran into some trouble, giving up one run on two hits and one walk in just one-third of an inning. Nick Sandlin worked out of the rest of the bottom of the sixth without being charged with a run. But Sam Hentges gave up three runs on two hits and one walk in the seventh, and was removed before he recorded an out. Enyel De Los Santos allowed two more in the frame when he relieved Hentges, then Cody Morris yielded four in the eighth.

“We just got to continue to build on what we did in the first half and just kind of throw this one away,” Hentges said.

This night was a rarity for Cleveland’s bullpen. It had been since Aug. 12, 2021, that the ‘pen collectively gave up at least 10 runs in a game.

Since that date, Cleveland relievers owned the second-best bullpen ERA in the Majors entering Friday night (3.15), trailing only the Yankees (3.09). This relief corps has proven in the past it can handle difficult lineups like the Rangers. It’s shown it can overcome hurdles like being tasked with more work when starters go down with injuries.

If the bullpen can rebound immediately and execute the plan of an easy and efficient weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, then there shouldn’t be too much to worry about when the team gets to Pittsburgh. Friday’s rocky night didn’t take a bullpen game on Monday off the table. It’ll just be harder to commit to if the rest of the weekend is shaky or if Gavin Williams and/or Tanner Bibee has a short start.

But because of the track record they have built, the Guardians are confident this bullpen blowup will be a one-time thing. If that’s the case, it may save the team from having to find yet another starter to come up and take Bieber’s spot on Monday while it waits to hear the results from his MRI and his doctor’s appointment on Saturday.

“Nobody’s losing any confidence in the bullpen,” Civale said. “As we all know, it’s one of the best in the league and no doubt everyone will bounce back.”