Cincinnati Reds‘ relievers started out the 2016 season as about as poorly as possible. The bullpen was on track for the fifth-worst ERA in the history of baseball earlier in the season.
Then things changed. The Reds’ bullpen notched a 2.45 ERA in 84.1 innings in July. So how did things go from historically awful to great?
The Reds moved two of their starting pitchers to the pen. Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen both landed on the disabled list this year for extended periods of time, which bumped them out of the Reds’ rotation. While one or the other or both may return to the rotation in the future, for now the pair are providing exceptional results in relief.
Iglesias has been dominant. He did not surrender an earned run in 18.2 innings pitched in July. Overall as a reliever, Iglesias has yielded just one run in 23.2 innings.
Lorenzen has not produced at the same level as Iglesias. But he has been quite good in his new role. He’s registered a 2.79 ERA in 19.1 innings since he made his season debut on June 24.
Another former Reds’ starting pitcher who has thrived in the bullpen is Tony Cingrani. Now the Reds’ closer, Cingrani hasn’t been considered a starter since 2014. He recorded nine of his 13 saves this year over the past two months. He posted a June ERA of 2.08 and a July ERA of 1.69.
The Reds’ bullpen is still on track for historically bad results. The current 5.24 would be the worst for a group of relievers in Reds’ history. Only three other Reds’ bullpens have recorded an ERA over 5.00. The 1931 Reds posted a 5.02. The other two came in 2007 (5.13) and 2004 (5.19).
The Reds bullpen will also be hard pressed to rise in league ranks this year. The 5.24 ERA is worst in all of baseball.
But at least there’s some hope at the end of the long, dark tunnel that the Reds’ have traveled through the past two years.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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