Un día malo: Atacan a Carlos Mármol con un jonrón con las bases llenas
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Hay días malos y días buenos.
El sábado, Carlos Mármol tuvo un día malo.
El bullpen de los Cubs llegó con efectividad de 1.00, producto de apenas 5 carreras en 41 entradas en los últimos 14 jueogs.
Sin embargo, Mármol llegó al noveno, dio 2 bases y luego, su ex compañero Derrek Lee le pegó jonrón con las bases lenas.
Ohhh, que dolor...
Reporte en inglés
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Through a forgettable season, the Cubs’ best constant has been their bullpen, a mix of veterans and youth that has been reliable for the most part and often outstanding.
But a bad outing Saturday for closer Carlos Marmol was a reminder of how fragile pitching can be.
Before the 7-5 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Mike Quade had been extolling his bullpen’s value: a stellar 1.00 ERA (five earned runs in 41 innings) in the previous 14 games and holding opponents to a paltry .156 batting average.
‘‘But not today,’’ he said afterward.
The 5-3 lead Marmol was handed in the ninth inning was slipping away as rain began to fall again after a 91-minute delay. After Marmol walked two to load the bases, former teammate Derrek Lee wiped them clean with a grand slam.
‘‘You go out there and compete. What happens, happens. No excuses,’’ said Marmol (2-5), who hadn’t pitched in four days but hadn’t allowed a run in his last five outings.
The mound may have been slippery — the grounds crew was called to add drying compound before Lee’s at-bat — but that doesn’t tell the story of Marmol’s struggles in his last 26 appearances, in which he has a miserable 7.96 ERA (20 earned runs in 222/3 innings). Before that, he had 13 straight scoreless outings.
One bad outing can wreak havoc on a closer’s ERA. In his last 10 appearances, Marmol only has had two bad ones, but he allowed four runs in each.
‘‘He was well-rested,’’ Quade said. ‘‘He has to get it figured out.’’
Despite Marmol’s problems, the bullpen as a whole has been a positive in a negative season.
‘‘They have been, no question,’’ Quade said. ‘‘And they’ve been called on a lot. I’m proud we haven’t called on them too much. The temptation is to go in day after day, but I look at their appearances and numbers. The one guy who’s [appearances] are up is [Jeff Samardzija] because his role has changed [to later innings], but he’s been good.’’
That’s true of each of the six mainstays — Samardzija, John Grabow, Sean Marshall, James Russell, Kerry Wood and Marmol — along with newer long-relief man Ramon Ortiz. Their cumulative ERA before Saturday was 3.53 through 4331/3 innings. They have allowed only 30 percent of inherited runners to score (56 out of 185).
Cubs relievers had a 92/3-inning scoreless streak until the seventh inning Saturday, when Garrett Jones’ sacrifice fly against Wood scored Ronny Cedeno, who had tripled.
