MLB NEWS

Tigers bullpen continues to be weak link

The Sports Xchange

October 03, 2014 at 12:27 am.

BALTIMORE — The Detroit bullpen struggled throughout the 2014 season. They found some more problems at the start of the postseason Thursday night.

Three Tigers relievers gave up seven runs in just two-thirds of an inning to help the Baltimore Orioles pull away for a 12-3 victory over Detroit in Game 1 of their American League Division Series.

Right-hander Joakim Soria (four runs), right-hander Joba Chamberlain (two runs) and left-hander Phil Coke (one run) helped the Orioles break open a one-run game with eight runs in the eighth inning. Manager Brad Ausmus knows that the bullpen’s problems hurt.

“It’s a team effort, and in baseball, team effort is if someone makes an error, you hope the pitcher picks them up,” Ausmus said. “Tonight, we just didn’t get it done. It’s as simple as that.”

The Tigers are going to need the bullpen to do better or this series could be over very quickly.

Detroit’s starters could be the best group in baseball, going 68-55 with a 3.89 ERA. They struck out 859 batters in 1007 innings. But the bullpen didn’t fare nearly as well. It had a 22-17 record and a 4.29 ERA and blew 16 of 57 save chances this season. However, Game 2 in this series comes Friday, so the Detroit pitchers won’t have much time to think Thursday’s disastrous result.

“It’s good,” Ausmus said. “It takes your mind off of it, and you have a new game to focus on.”

ALL  |  NFL  |  College Football  |  MLB  |  NBA