I feel for Tony Santillan at the moment. He’s been such a vital part of the Cincinnati Reds bullpen, when healthy, for several years now, but it’s undeniable that he’s been struggling for weeks now to no avail.
Problem is, the more he struggles, the more that’s still being asked of him. Simultaneous with his foibles have come the injuries to Emilio Pagan, Pierce Johnson, and Graham Ashcraft, as well as the latest derailment of Connor Phillips. In other words, opportunities keep falling on his lap based on his reputation at a time when he, like so many relievers before him, needed just a bit more time to work things out.
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The Cincinnati Reds have been worse for it, sadly. There just aren’t enough other good options down there to whom Terry Francona can turn.
Cincinnati clawed their way back to a 2-2 tie against the Kansas City Royals thanks to a late 2-run homer by Blake Dunn, a swing that leveled the score after Chase Burns turned in yet another stellar start (6.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 K). The problem, though, is that the more that was asked of Cincinnati’s beleaguered bullpen, the worse things got.
I hate to pile on Santillan here, but the facts are what they are now. In 23.0 IP this season, he’s pitched to a 6.65 ERA while yielding an impossible nine homers in that time. Seven of those dingers have come since May 5th alone. Yet here the Reds were in the 9th inning of a game against a club that was just 23-38 on the season coming in with Santillan on the mound with the game on the line, and things once again simply collapsed in real time.
Short of swinging a major deal for an entirely new bullpen, I’m not sure exactly where the Reds go from here. We saw in April how vital a fully-functioning Cincinnati bullpen was going to be for the way this roster was built, with thin margins and wins in close games paramount given their lack of obvious ways to win games in blowouts. Now, we’re seeing just how penalized the roster building can be when banking on such thin margins, as the relievers of the Reds are seemingly just out of relief right now.
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Thursday is a day off, and Sunday will see Rhett Lowder return to the starting unit. I just wonder whether or not either will be enough of a jolt to get this thing back on track with so many key arms still weeks away from rejoining the roster at any strength, let alone full.
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