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by joez
Opponents are inheriting the wind against Cleveland’s bullpen: Guardians takeaways
Published: Jul. 13, 2024, 4:52 p.m.
By Joe Noga, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s hard to overlook Cleveland’s major league-leading 2.67 bullpen ERA, but if there is one figure that could be considered equally impressive, it’s the Guardians’ ability to prevent inherited runners from scoring when a relief pitcher enters the game.
On Friday, Scott Barlow and Xzavion curry combined to strand five inherited runners, with Curry striking out a pair after entering with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Cleveland’s bullpen has allowed just 32 of 133 inherited runners to score this season, a 24.1% rate that leads all of baseball.
The top three bullpens in terms of inherited runners scoring are all in the AL Central Division, as Detroit has allowed a total of 37 out of 138 to score (26.8%) and Kansas City 34 of 126 (27.0%).
Individually, Cade Smith leads the majors with just one out of 21 inherited runners scoring against him this season (4.8%). Tim Herrin ranks sixth in the American League with 5 of 24 inherited runners scoring (20.8%).
Manager Stephen Vogt said preventing inherited runners from scoring is a big part of how he evaluates a bullpen’s performance.
“All of our guys have been just absolutely phenomenal in that situation,” Vogt said. “Everybody we bring in mid-inning seems to get us out of trouble, so that’s a big one for me.”
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