Cleveland optimistic despite 'pen's struggles

CLEVELAND -- The Indians bullpen was the most dependable aspect of their roster at the beginning of the season, but as the calendar flipped to July, some of their most reliable arms have started to waver.

For the second time in the last month, James Karinchak watched his team’s lead disappear while he was on the rubber. And for the third time in his last eight outings, Nick Wittgren was handed the loss, as Cleveland fell, 4-3, in 10 innings to the A’s on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.

“We didn't come through today, but I truly like the effort,” Indians acting manager DeMarlo Hale said. “You talk about competing and being in the game. We had the lead until they tied it up and then it went extra innings.”

The Indians had a one-run lead entering the eighth inning after a strong six innings from starter Triston McKenzie and a scoreless frame by reliever Bryan Shaw. The ball was handed to Karinchak, who’s been struggling in the second half of the season, but has tried to right the ship by turning in three consecutive scoreless outings heading into Tuesday. However, consecutive base hits from Starling Marte and Matt Olson led to an RBI groundout for cleanup hitter Jed Lowrie to tie the game.

“We asked him to go through the tough part of the order,” Hale said. “It's not easy going through that 2-3-4, but you know, he kept it at a tie game, really gave us a chance.”

He’s had three solid appearances in August, but overall, Karinchak’s stuff hasn’t been the same as it was in 2020 or at the start of the ‘21 season. He was electric last year, fanning 53 batters in just 27 frames. He followed that with another 54 strikeouts in his first 30 1/3 innings to start this season. But in the middle of June, his command started to take a hit.

Suddenly, his crisp 2.37 ERA has inflated to 3.62 after he’s posted a 5.59 ERA since June 19. In that span, he’s allowed 14 walks in 19 1/3 innings with 20 strikeouts, while giving up four homers. And Tuesday’s one-run outing marked the fourth time he’s blown the lead for Cleveland this season, forcing extra innings.

The offense didn’t help, scoring just three runs despite chasing A’s starter Sean Manaea in the second inning. The next eight frames, the Indians’ offense was held scoreless, allowing Oakland to stay in the game. And when the automatic runner was sent to second base to start the 10th, the Indians turned to Wittgren, who’s also had a difficult time in high-leverage innings this season, but, like Karinchak, started to show signs of settling back in of late.

“That’s why I’m not hesitating to go to him,” Hale said prior to the game. “He’s been throwing the ball very well.”

Cleveland went right back to him after he worked two scoreless innings against the Reds on Monday, but he couldn’t navigate around the automatic runner on second, permitting an unearned run on a Lowrie double, giving the A’s a one-run lead. And when the Indians’ offense had no answer in the bottom half of the frame, Wittgren was served his fifth loss of the year.

“I thought Witt did a good job,” Hale said. “Even after he gave up the run, you're thinking about, ‘We still got the last at-bat, and we're starting with a guy on second base,’ and I thought we hit two pretty good balls to [Matt] Chapman at third, and he made pretty good plays.”

There’s been plenty of bumps in the road for this bullpen, especially since the All-Star break came to a close. However, Hale was clear that these hurdles will not deter him from sticking to this plan of relying on these hurlers, especially Karinchak, in close games moving forward.

“He's been throwing the ball good, to me,” Hale said of Karinchak. “You know, he went through a little stretch where he made some adjustments, but I'm going to go to him. He's been a big part of the core out there.”