Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets that the Indians have designated right-handed reliever Oliver Drake for assignment and recalled fellow righty Ben Taylor from Triple-A to take his roster spot. Drake was charged with six earned runs in last night’s game against the Astros.
It’s the latest turn in the revolving door that’s been the Indians’ bullpen this season as they desperately search for lightning in a bottle to stabilize their relief corps. The Tribe’s bullpen currently ranks dead last in baseball with a 6.23 ERA, and have suffered many a loss at the hands of relievers who simply can’t seem to preserve leads for their stellar starting rotation. Last night’s loss may have been one of the most disheartening yet, as Indians fans watched Corey Kluber shut out Houston over 6 1/3 strong innings only to groan later as a five different relievers combined to allow four earned runs in the eighth inning and seven more in the ninth.
For Drake’s part in that nightmare, he allowed base hits to five Astros and beaned one more. All six of those players crossed the plate, and Drake managed to record just two outs. He’d been generally good for the Indians in three appearances prior to that, striking out four batters in 3 2/3 innings after being acquired from the Orioles. It’s worth noting that in his four appearances as an Indian, he owns a 12.46 ERA but a 2.65 FIP (though the microscopic sample size probably renders those numbers somewhat pointless).
As for Taylor, he’ll be up for his second stint with the Indians, having allowed just a single earned run in 3 1/3 innings so far this season while striking out five of the 13 hitters he faced. Prior to this season, Taylor had spent his entire career in the Red Sox organization. On the whole, he owns a 4.79 ERA and 4.26 FIP for his career across 20 2/3 innings.
A well deserved DFA for Drake. He earned it.
This team has been so miserable to watch because of the bullpen.
Yep. Ready to cancel my MLB streaming package, and spend the savings on minor league tickets instead.
I had free tickets for the Rubberducks recently and it was actually more fun to watch.
I’m in SoCal. I’m stuck watching the Angels High-A team, but they’ve grown on me.
But I did waste the money this year to watch the Tribe lose twice to the Angels in Anaheim. Ugh.
Choosing Spring Training in Arizona next year.
Pretty sure they acquired Drake from the Brewers, not the Orioles. I distinctly remember him as the worst guy in the Brewers’ bullpen this year.
Hate the Drake!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ATGizZp4s
Drake acquired from Brewers, not Orioles, right?
Yes from brewers..which brewers acquired from orioles
Revolving door to the pen…
Drake is like the opposite of Jared Hughes
Hughes is a guy who has found success throughout his career despite troubling peripherals, while Drake has never been good, but has always had good to excellent peripherals.