Well, it’s another night where I have to erase my entire game story because the Tigers couldn’t hold a lead. I’m really not happy right now. That is an absolutely brutal loss. It was a great game tonight in Atlanta. Skubal bounced back after a rough first inning, and I’d greatly prefer to talk about that or the fact that Riley Greene went deep or that McGonigle had another two-hit game, but I’m not delusional. We know what we saw tonight, and what we saw was another example of a team that’s coughed up multiple games because of an ineffective bullpen. They are very, very lucky that they barely survived the eighth inning after a ridiculous decision not to challenge a pitch down the middle. Because of that, Kyle Finnegan might not be available tomorrow, which is great because then we’ll officially have zero reliable relievers in this bullpen.
Kenley Jansen came in for an opportunity to bounce back after a rough outing against Cincinnati. He failed to record a single out. This is a very long season, and I’m willing to accept that there are ups and downs, and even some of the best players go through struggles and inconsistencies. I’m not dealing with that when it comes to the bullpen. We’ve been through this crap too many times. Next time there’s a ninth inning, I don’t want to see Kenley Jansen out there. It’s too early in the season for me to do a whole deep dive into what’s going wrong with the bullpen the last few years, but Scott Harris' insistence on bringing in soft tossers who don’t throw hard and don’t strike people out is not a recipe for success. For whatever reason, this organization has been absolutely addicted over the last 20 years to signing washed-up closers to end up costing them big games in the ninth inning.
I’ve been the one guy trying to steady the ship for a while, but this is the first time this season that I’ve been legitimately concerned that this thing might go sideways. They don’t have a bullpen right now, and we’ve seen better Detroit rosters have their seasons fall apart because their bullpen can’t close down games. Either make moves, or somebody’s going to have to step up. It’s tiring.
Detroit would like to avoid a sweep tomorrow with Framber Valdez on the mound against Bryce Elder. This is going to be a tough one to bounce back from.