My son plays travel baseball for a local team in the Tampa Bay area. Most weekends they are competitive, but some they are not, and it almost always comes down to pitching. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don’t.
We are talking about 11- and 12-year-old arms on teams with rosters of 10-13 players. There is not a lot of room for error. As much as you try to conserve your best arm or two for high-stakes elimination games, it seldom works because the chain of pitching just is not strong enough to hold up when you have five games over two days. Under that workload, it is extremely difficult to piece together a rotation two innings at a time and expect all of them to be effective enough to make it to the end.
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The Tampa Bay Rays have received a ton of press for their use of the opener and their willingness to pull starters right around the third time through the order, regardless of pitch count. In actuality, they are just operating the way travel-ball teams across the state do every weekend: Start someone for a few innings, and hope they are good enough to get you to the next arm.
From there, Kevin Cash is just trying to manage an inning or two at a time. If everyone is effective and efficient, it makes for a good strategy. That said, if any part of the chain has a kink, not only are you in trouble for that game but potentially several more down the line.
Blake Snell’s unfortunate and unusual injury put the Rays in a tough position. Already navigating the major-league waters with two openers, they were tasked with three open spots for at least the 10 days he is on the injured list. Tampa Bay went with the strategy on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They took care of business in the first game but narrowly lost the next two. They lost on Saturday and Sunday as well. The four straight losses were by a total of five runs, showing how much things can change with just one move or series of moves.
There is no reason to scrap the opener or to sign Dallas Keuchel to a monster contract. Rather, it simply shows how fragile a bullpen chain can be when it’s extended in this fashion. This is not a problem isolated to Tampa Bay, but the franchise’s practices do force them to rely on the bullpen more than the average team.
With that, let’s examine the good and the bad in each of the four losses. Be sure to notice how just one iffy link can break the entire chain. (Please also understand that for this exercise, I am admittedly ignoring two-thirds of the game: hitting and defense.)
Thursday’s chain: Hunter Wood, Jalen Beeks, Adam Kolarek, Emilio Pagan, Jose Alvarado, Diego Castillo.
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The result: 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in 11 innings.
What went right? Wood was fantastic as the opener, tossing two scoreless innings. Kolarek, Pagan, Alvarado and Castillo were also pretty good. The two righties and two lefties combined to give up three runs in six innings — a quality start if they formed into one pitcher like Voltron. Pagan was optioned after the game.
What went wrong? Beeks was ineffective in the middle three innings. He allowed three runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out just one batter and needed 66 pitches to record nine outs. In the 11th inning, the typically reliable Castillo recorded two ground-ball outs before allowing a single, single and RBI double — which brought in the go-ahead run.
Friday’s chain: Ryne Stanek, Ryan Yarbrough, Wilmer Font, Adam Kolarek, Diego Castillo, Casey Sadler.
The result: 6-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
What went right? Stanek, like Wood the day before him, went two scoreless as the opener. He needed just 14 pitches to record six outs. Kolarek and Sadler combined for three shutout innings. It was Sadler’s debut in a Rays uniform, replacing the optioned Pagan. He needed just 18 pitches and induced two double plays. He was sent back to Durham after the game.
What went wrong? Once again, the “bulk” pitcher was not great. Yarbrough did strike out six batters and allowed just three hits, but one was a two-run home run to Christian Vazquez. Font struck out the side in his inning, but only after he allowed a run on three consecutive hits. Castillo faced two batters. He did not record an out, allowing back-to-back home runs in the eighth that decided the game.
Saturday’s chain: Charlie Morton, Jake Faria, Jose Alvarado.
The result: 6-5 loss to the Red Sox.
What went right? A traditional starter in Morton saved the need for more links in the chain. Faria returned to the Rays with two scoreless innings. The average of 93.7 mph on his fastball was a tick or two above his previous norm. He was shipped back to Durham after the game.
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What went wrong? Morton allowed five runs, including a grand slam, in the second inning. His 99-pitch effort was his highest as a Ray and arose almost out of necessity to provide some respite to the regular relievers. Of course, one of those regulars, Alvarado, allowed two hits and a sacrifice fly that gave Boston the lead for good.
Sunday’s chain: Tyler Glasnow, Adam Kolarek, Chaz Roe, Ryne Stanek, Emilio Pagan, Diego Castillo, Jose Alvarado.
The result: 4-3 loss to Boston in 11 innings.
What went right? Glasnow was cruising for most of the game. He allowed just one run on three hits over 77 pitches through 5 1/3 innings. Diego Castillo was dominant, using primarily his slider to strike out five of the six batters he faced. Pagan returned — replacing Hunter Wood, who is on paternity leave — to toss another scoreless frame.
What went wrong? After a quick hook of Glasnow, Kolarek walked a right-handed pinch-hitter. He was replaced by Roe, who loaded the bases before giving up a two-run double. In the 11th inning, Alvarado let the first two batters reach base. A sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position, and a sacrifice fly brought in what proved to be the winning run as the Red Sox completed the sweep.
Allowing a total of 22 runs in four games is not terrible, and the Rays were certainly in all four games late. A timely hit here or there and maybe nobody notices they used 14 different pitchers to make a combined 22 appearances.
And even with all the moving parts, most of the pitching performances were good, if not better. On the other hand, when you have 22 entrances into a game, it only takes a handful of bad ones to derail the plan. That is only exacerbated when a starter like Morton gives up early runs and your two stud relievers, Castillo and Alvarado, collect all four losses — even though neither was that bad.
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The best pitching chains are relatively short and strong. In an ideal world, Blake Snell goes seven innings and passes the baton to Castillo and Alvarado in some order. The real world does not work that way, however, and because of their philosophy (the opener and third-time limitations), the Rays often leave themselves open to longer chaining and more opportunities for a misstep — even a small one — along the way.
In fact, after Yonny Chirinos makes a traditional start on Monday, two openers will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday. This means the bullpen — coming off heavy usage — will have a larger workload to manage unless someone exceeds expectations.
Still, the strategy does not appear to be going away anytime soon. Therefore, either the chain needs to get stronger by adding another viable late-inning reliever, thereby reducing the reliance on Castillo and Alvarado to be perfect every time out, or it needs to get shorter, which could happen when arms like Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon possibly become available to start later this summer.
As for my son’s team, the only option is getting better — and fast. A trip to Cooperstown for a week-long tournament is just six weeks away.
(Top photo of Jose Alvarado and Willy Adames: Kim Klement / USA Today)