For One Night, Bullpen Proves Reliable
The short-term result was a negative, but Jim Leyland's bullpen might finally be lining up the way he wants it.
Detroit's bullpen put up 11 scoreless innings as Tuesday morphed into Wednesday, but a hit batter with the bases loaded in the 14th inning gave Cleveland a 3-2 victory.
Leyland has been searching for some kind of stability, defined roles for pitchers, from the end stages of spring training. A 14-inning loss might have pointed out the stability has arrived.
Jose Valverde has been wall-solid at the end of games, and Joaquin Benoit has been mostly effective as the setup man. Benoit showed an excellent changeup in two innings Tuesday, and he has only had a couple of wobbles this season.
Beyond that, though, it's been like trying to put a big rock in a wet paper bag before the marathon at Cleveland, which included a two-plus-hour rain delay after the second inning.
Valverde was the only Detroit bullpen resident who didn't pitch in the game, which means Leyland will try to squeeze as many innings as he can out of Rick Porcello in the middle game of the series Wednesday.
Duane Below has been excellent in three relief outings since being removed from the rotation, and he threw four perfect innings against the Indians. He's been used out of the bullpen early.
Daniel Schlereth has thrown more strikes and been more aggressive since a recent trip to the minors, mixing his curve and fastball to advantage.
Phil Coke has been in and out, but some of that might have something to do with the fact he's still adjusting to the bullpen after opening the season in the rotation. He worked a scoreless ninth inning and retired the first batter of the 10th.
Al Alburquerque's biggest problem has been staying healthy. He threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Alburquerque has been used in middle and late relief. Leyland loves bringing him into situations where he needs a strikeout because Alburquerque has one of the better swing-and-miss sliders in the game.
Newcomer David Pauley, who lost the game by hitting Kosuke Fukudome with a pitch, is still being used in a variety of roles as Leyland figures out where he's most effective.
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