In need of relief? Astros’ bullpen sees its innings piling up
Hinch making a lot more calls to a taxed bullpen than he’d like
James Hoyt is searching for the fix. The righthanded reliever has tipped his pitches and flattened his slider. His ERA has soared, and his self-assurance has wavered.
He has not felt like himself lately. His usually tranquil voice tightened when he explained his current state. He is stressed. Tense.
“Uh, yeah,” Hoyt said, with an emphasis that meant: “Uh, duh.”
Hoyt, 29, has a 5.40 ERA in 30 innings. He gave up two grand slams in four days last week. Although he threw a scoreless inning Sunday, he bemoaned surrendering two hits.
He corrected a mistake in his motion but lost the focus he needed for everything else.
“I’ve been thinking of certain mechanics, and that causes tension,” he said of being distracted on the mound.
Manager A.J. Hinch wishes it were that simple for his Astros pitching staff. Injuries to the starting rotation have caused a ripple effect this season. As more relievers have been needed, more have faltered.
By its nature, the bullpen is composed of pitchers who lose their efficacy over long stretches. Although handedness and pitch repertoire can affect specific matchups, the hierarchy descends from players a manager trusts most to least in a high-leverage situation.
Chris Devenski has been masterful at ending jams. Hoyt has not. Yet with oppos-
ing runners on base, Hinch has brought in Devenski 11 times and Hoyt 10.
The bullpen’s ERA — 4.10, which ranks seventh in the AL — has climbed as its workload increased each month. Of the staff ’s total innings, Astros relievers threw 35 percent in April, 37 percent in May and 43 percent in June. Under Hinch, the Astros’ bullpen surpassed last month’s usage only once: when the rotation unraveled because of injuries last September. The Astros wound up missing the playoffs.
“It’s been a little bit of a challenge for us in the last few weeks,” Hinch said before Sunday’s 8-1 win over the Yankees. “The bullpen is having to replenish its gas tank pretty often.”
After exhausting Reymin Guduan and his 8.22 ERA, the Astros called up lefty Ashur Tolliver for Sunday’s game. Hinch needed nine arms available in the pen.
“So that tells you exactly where we’re at,”he said.
Astros relievers have pitched 290 of the team’s 748 innings, No. 2 in the AL behind the Orioles.
Juggling act
Hinch has largely tried to avoid pitching anyone two games in a row — though he wouldn’t hesitate to insert Ken Giles in a save situation on consecutive days — to consistently offer rest. He was asked if the bullpen’s workload was starting to concern him.
“Starting to?” he said with a smirk. “I’m juggling them the best I can to keep them out of the fatigue area, but it’s a lot of innings.”
A team can minimize its weakest assets by giving them the least responsibility. The Astros lost that luxury when starters Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers Jr., Charlie Morton and Joe Musgrove disrupted June. Mike Fiers and Brad Peacock exceeded expectations as replacements, while rookies Francis Martes and David Paulino have come up short, understandable given their inexperience. Paulino then cost himself the season because of an 80-game suspension for using a banned substance.
Only once in the last 14 games — Mike Fiers on June 21 against the Rangers — has an Astros starter completed six innings. Astros pitchers posted a 5.18 ERA in that span, but the team is 10-4 thanks to a lineup that scored 6.43 runs per game.
“We realized that without the guys we’re used to having, it’s going to be a little more difficult for the guys coming up and not being used to carrying the load,” said outfielder Josh Reddick, who has hit .485 and scored 14 runs since returning from the disabled list on June 20. “We realize that we may need to do a little bit more.”
Devenski, Will Harris and Giles have proved to be the elite trio to end games this season. The recent burden, however, has called for more from Hoyt, Luke Gregerson and lefty Tony Sipp, who have combined for a 4.63 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 871⁄3 innings.
Gregerson, who pitched for outstanding bullpens in San Diego and Oakland in his nine-year career, said he had never previously pitched for a team with starting pitching that relied so heavily on relievers to finish games.
“Not to this extent,” he said. “Maybe we’re in a longer lull than most.”
Situations change
Still, Gregerson, Hinch and Mike Fiers said teams cycle through periods like this during a season. Each suggested there will be a point when the rotation is healthy and some relievers go unused for days.
Hoyt is hoping to cycle out of his lull and into a groove again. He went from being a final-day roster cut in March to an overexposed reliever by July. Dating to June 5, his ERA rose from 2.81. He allowed 13 earned runs in 14 innings.
Giles visited teammates in California in the offseason. Hoyt was one of them. He recently watched Hoyt throw, and they dissected his delivery to identify a problem. Hoyt was rushing his delivery. His arm was lagging behind just enough that when he opened up to throw home, the ball in his hand was too easy for batters to see. The drag on his arm also flattened out his slider because he was not getting on top of the ball.
Rushing, Hoyt theorized, may be why batters hit .305 off him in his last 12 appearances.
“They know you belong in the big leagues,” Giles told Hoyt. “Now it’s time to show you can make the adjustments. You need to get yourself out of this hole.”
Hoyt said he gave up last week’s second grand slam because he was thinking too much about not rushing, which prevented him from pitching carefree.
“I’m trying to get away from that,” he said. “Just go out there and pitch.”
The logic trapped him. A pitcher in a jam, still trying to throw his way out of it.
hunter.atkins@chron.com twitter.com/hunteratkins35