Rays reliever Romo embraces role as a pitching chameleon
OAKLAND — Any day now, Sergio Romo may start one baseball game and close out the next and perhaps even pitch middle relief in the one after that.
If that seems improbable, consider that the career-long reliever has started four games in the past two weeks as part of the Tampa Bay Rays’ “bullpenning” scheme. On Tuesday he warmed up in the fifth inning but wound up entering in the ninth and earning his first save of the season, albeit a shaky one.
At a time of specialized bullpen roles, when some pitchers may take affront at being asked to pitch the sixth inning when they’re used to the eighth, Romo has embraced his turn as a pitching chameleon.
His flexibility is part of the reason manager Kevin Cash tabbed the veteran right-hander when the club took a creative approach toward getting 27 outs, starting Romo for short stints to take advantage of favourable matchups before giving way to the rest of the bullpen.
The results have been mixed with Romo throwing scoreless ball over a combined 2 1/3 innings in his first two starts before yielding four runs in a total of one inning in his next two. The Rays split those four games and drew lots of attention along the way for what some saw as a harebrained idea and others as an innovative strategy.
“It’s an opportunity to help my team out in a different situation, in a different inning, but with the same concept,” Romo said of his first starts after 588 career relief appearances. “The concept in our job is to get outs, regardless of the inning. It’s fun that it’s the beginning and I’m all for it. If they think I help the team out best doing this, OK, let’s do it. If they think in another form or fashion, I’m in.”
That’s a refreshing attitude from an 11-year veteran who has collected three championship rings — and left an indelible mark by freezing Miguel Cabrera for the final out of the 2012 World Series — as well as 85 saves and an All-Star Game invite.
But it comes as no surprise. During much of his nine-year tenure with the San Francisco Giants from 2008-2016, the hyperkinetic Romo cheerily served as the catcher for ceremonial first pitches, invariably bouncing from behind the plate to hug whoever threw them.
At 35, his enjoyment of the game has hardly abated.
“The phone rings in the bullpen and I still get excited,” Romo said. “They’ve asked me to start now and I’m all about it. I just want to play like I love it. I do understand that one day this game’s not going to let me play anymore, and until that day comes, I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.”
With last week’s trade of closer Alex Colome, the Rays were left with virtually no closing experience beyond Romo’s. The resuscitated Jonny Venters is next behind him in career saves with seven. So Romo’s services may be needed more frequently late in games, but that won’t preclude Cash from continuing to lean on him as a starter.
“I’m sure he’ll get some opportunities to go open another game,” Cash said.
When it was suggested kiddingly that maybe he could find a loophole that would allow Romo to start and close in the same game, Cash smiled and said, “It’s probably going to happen on consecutive nights.”
The low-budget Rays were already planning on covering every fifth turn through the rotation with relievers before projected No. 3 starter Nathan Eovaldi went down just before the start of the season with an elbow injury that required arthroscopic surgery.
Eovaldi returned to action Wednesday against the Oakland Athletics and tossed six no-hit innings before he was removed from the game, but his absence combined with the struggles and subsequent oblique injury endured by starter Jake Faria, as well as the flexor strain that sidelined promising rookie Yonny Chirinos, forced the Tampa Bay bullpen into overtime.
Rays relievers have thrown 225 innings, the highest figure in the majors, while also leading baseball with 16 outings of at least 50 pitches. Nobody else has more than eight.
Staff ace Chris Archer heartily embraces Eovaldi’s return, noting that teams can’t win consistently with just two regular starters, although the Rays have managed a 27-26 record so far.
“If you look at it from a winloss perspective, we’ve been on the positive end of it,” Archer said of the “bullpenning” experiment. “My main concern is keeping people healthy, guys pitching in the right situations over the course of a 162-game season and not just (53) games.”
Romo said his arm has withstood the varying roles without any new aches or fatigue, and he’s taking better care of his slim body. Now he’s hoping a careerlong trend holds true and he can bounce back from a difficult first two months.
Much like last year, when the Los Angeles Dodgers dumped him and his 6.12 ERA midway through the season, Romo has struggled with his usually sharp command. While giving up two runs in one inning Tuesday, which raised his ERA to 6.33, Romo’s pitches floated more than dipped and darted, and his signature slider was mostly flat.
Then again, he put up a 1.47 ERA in 25 games after joining the Rays in late July, and his career second-half ERA of 2.09 — compared to 3.56 in the first half — lends credence to Romo’s belief that he can still find a way to get hitters out.
“I’m not going to surprise anybody, but I’m not going to go and reinvent myself. It’s not like all of a sudden I’m going to start throwing 100 m.p.h.,” he said. “I’ve just got to pitch with what I’ve got and compete. I know I can still compete, and that’s why I’m still here.”