CINCINNATI – The occasional blown lead is a baseball inevitability. Blowing one makes for a bad week, two makes for a problem. But three? All of at least four...
A bullpen is a living, breathing organism, though. When one aspect fails, it impacts others. On Tuesday, it bled over to Ragans.
Ragans got the first out of the inning after Jonathan Hernández, perhaps the pitcher on staff whose stuff profiles best as a closer, finished out the seventh. Then he missed badly with an 0-2 fastball, hitting Stuart Fairchild. Three of the next four hitters reached on singles, one of them off Ragan’s glove and another one softly hit. With two outs, he walked No. 8 hitter José Barrero to load the bases in what had gone from a 6-1 lead to 6-3.
Presumably, he was speaking of Dunning, also a starter who has transitioned to relief work this season, and Brock Burke, who had thrown 58 pitches over three outings last week. Burke last pitched Sunday against Oakland. And about Dunning: He’s been great in the bullpen, but at some point the Rangers are going to need somebody to fill out the rotation for an injured starter. Dunning would be the first option. That would only thin the bullpen more.
The trade market would come later. Right now, the Rangers must examine their internal options. To that point, Bochy didn’t seem ready to make a call on Leclerc or the undefined ninth-inning situation. At least not yet.
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