Is it time to start worrying about Fernando Cruz?

Fernando Cruz has a 6.35 ERA since July 31st, he gave up a game-tying homer to Dylan Beavers in the 7th inning yesterday, and his splitter seems like it has no bite recently

With the way the bullpen’s been getting worked with Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn, and David Bednar pitching lights off but so often we really need Cruz to lock back in

It’s just tough with Cruz because everyone knows he’s a predominantly splitter pitcher and he tries to get batters to chase on it and his secondaries of his fastball and sinker aren’t very good.

On top of that, he also doesn’t have good command, including purposefully throwing out of the zone so many times to try to get whiffs and ultimately strikeouts.

Cruz also has given up 4 earned runs, 3 home runs, and 6 hits in his last 5.2 innings since July 31st across 8 games. This is supposed to be out high leverage guy that can pitch up to the 9th inning, play the fireman role, and get out of some huge jams with his strikeout expertise

The home runs were an issue for Cruz when he was with the Reds, he’s up there in age, hopefully this isn’t a sign for things to come after how great he was last season and the first half of this season. They’ve been giving him extra rest and he still doesn’t look sharp, and he’s giving up a ton of barrels