Team USA’s bullpen fuels WBC quarterfinals berth: ‘A monster with 15 heads’
|
By Zach Buchanan
1h ago
PHOENIX — They were clinical in their efficiency, making up with deadly precision what they lacked in flair. One after the other, Team USA’s star-studded relievers took the mound. One after the other, their opponents trudged back to the dugout.
Nineteen batters faced, 16 retired. Two of the three who reached quickly dispatched on the bases. All the while, a one-run lead protected like a quarterback surrounded by five all-pro linemen — once the bullpen took over, no one even came close.
The result — a 3-2, quarterfinals-clinching win over a desperate Colombia team — was important. A loaded USA squad that had underplayed its talent in two of its first three games would survive, keeping alive a chance at a repeat title in the World Baseball Classic. But when it comes to the U.S.’s chances going forward, especially in a knockout game against an undefeated Venezuela on Saturday in Miami, how that victory was secured might matter more.
For the first time all tournament, Team USA had a fully weaponized bullpen. And opposing hitters had no answers.
“You are fighting against a monster with 15 heads,” said Colombia manager Jolbert Cabrera in Spanish. “You cut one down, two more come out and replace the old one.”
Team USA couldn’t pitch two relievers at once, but the bullpen might as well have been that dominant. Colombia chased USA starter Merrill Kelly after three innings, bequeathing the bullpen a 2-1 deficit. Center fielder Mike Trout provided the necessary cushion with a two-run single in the fifth, and facing six relief aces, Colombia managed no real threat the rest of the way. David Bednar attacked with an explosive fastball. Jason Adam befuddled three straight hitters with sliders, striking out each. Ryan Pressly closed it out, working around a weakly hit two-out single.
“Nasty,” said Brewers closer Devin Williams, who pitched a clean eighth inning. Earlier in the tournament, as well as when rosters were announced, Team USA’s lack of standout starting pitching became a topic of discussion. That bothered Williams. Not all good pitchers are starters, after all.
“To be honest, I think it’s bulls–t,” Williams said. “We’ve got five or six closers in our bullpen. If we do what we need to do at the beginning of the game, you see what we’re able to do when we pass it off to the bullpen. I think we have a tremendous collection of arms down there.”
The key, it turns out, is being able to use them when and how manager Mark DeRosa wants. Earlier in pool play, the first-time skipper didn’t have that freedom, much to his consternation. In Team USA’s concerning and lopsided loss to Mexico in its second game, DeRosa was criticized for odd pitching moves that he later revealed to be back-against-the-wall reactions to the limits major-league clubs had placed on his relievers. Some pitchers could only appear in clean innings. Many couldn’t finish an inning and then start another.
As a result, DeRosa had to put a couple of his bullpen arms in less-than-ideal situations. Bard, the Rockies closer, was left out to wither in a four-run eighth inning against Mexico. Why? Because if DeRosa clipped him any earlier, whoever replaced him wouldn’t be available to pitch the next day. The manager ultimately had to yank Bard anyway, only for Williams to escape the inning with one pitch. Because the Brewers weren’t allowing the right-hander to come back out to start the next inning or throw on consecutive days, that one pitch was all Williams was eligible to throw until Wednesday.
The game against Colombia, however, brought new maneuverability. Team USA was off Tuesday, and all of DeRosa’s relievers were available. Only Adam Ottavino didn’t appear in the game. When Kelly was chased early with the score tight, DeRosa lined his many closers up and knocked them down in order. “Just awesome domination and execution by those guys,” he said, taking particular notice of Bard and Williams.
DeRosa owed those two something, he thought. Bard had to wear an outing, while Williams barely needed to wear his uniform. DeRosa wanted both to get work, and he was thrilled to see them breeze through important innings. “In a season, you can shrug those (bad outings) off like it’s nothing,” Bard said. The WBC presents dramatically different stakes. He appreciated the palette cleanser he got against Colombia. “I was super thankful to get back out there,” Bard said, “especially in a close game.”
Bullpen management will only get easier now that Team USA is out of the pool stage. The team won’t play again until Saturday — DeRosa did not name a starter, although it would be Adam Wainwright’s turn — and all his bullpen weapons will be locked and loaded then as well. Team USA wouldn’t play back-to-back days until the semifinals and final next Monday and Tuesday. Additionally, starting pitchers can now go longer, up to 80 pitches, which lowers the burden on the relief corps.
Which isn’t to say it gets simple. Limitations remain. If DeRosa gets a reliever warm, he’s pretty much obligated to bring that pitcher in. Wednesday, DeRosa considered getting Ottavino warm for the fourth inning, but he’d already roused Graveman as Kelly was caught in a jam. When Kelly escaped, Graveman was hot and therefore had to come in.
“There’s no double barrel down there,” DeRosa said. “There’s no get a guy up and then, oh, it might change.”
That challenge will remain for the rest of the tournament. It’s assembly-line bullpen management, which DeRosa knows can work only one way: “They’ve all got to be great.”
Wednesday, with advancement on the line and the thinnest lead to safeguard, they were.
(Photo of Devin Williams: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Zach Buchanan
Zach Buchanan is a staff writer for The Athletic covering baseball, with a focus on prospects and the minor leagues. From 2018 to 2022, he was The Athletic's beat writer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has covered baseball since 2013, previously for The Arizona Republic and the Cincinnati Enquirer. Follow Zach on Twitter @ZHBuchanan. Follow Zach on Twitter @ZHBuchanan
|
Responses:
|
Replies are disabled on threads older than 7 days.
|
|
