News
Bullpen struggles for crucial outs in loss
Grand slam caps Twins' seven-run eighth inning
By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com
04/18/09 1:20 AM ET
MINNEAPOLIS -- After learning they'd be without slugger Vladimir Guerrero for at least a month with a torn right pectoral muscle, the Angels -- already taxed to the outer limits of their starting pitching resources -- lost Dustin Moseley to elbow stiffness after three innings on Friday night at the Metrodome.Just when it looked as if they might bat away the frustration, more bad news arrived on their doorstep courtesy of Jason Kubel and his Twins.
Letting a five-run lead get away, the Angels watched the Twins come storming back to claim a stunning 11-9 decision when Kubel, completing a cycle, unloaded a grand slam against Jason Bulger to put the finishing touches on a seven-run eighth inning.
Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields had preceded Bulger to the mound in the eighth, compounding the Angels' early season relief issues with their inability to quiet the Twins.
Known since the World Series championship season for their deep and resilient bullpens, the Angels' relievers are getting tattooed. Their collective ERA is 8.19 after surrendering eight earned runs in five innings in the opener of this weekend series.
"We've got some good arms -- they're just not throwing the ball like they can," manager Mike Scioscia said. "They're just not turning the ball loose. We're going to evaluate some things. Guys haven't gotten in sync and turned it loose. We're going to have to make adjustments."
The lone exception on this occasion was Justin Speier, perfect in two innings with four strikeouts. The four relievers who followed him to the mound were unable to sustain command or control.
It was all set up for Kubel, who'd found the elusive triple in the sixth inning on a ball that rolled around in the right-field corner, to finish the job after dangerous Justin Morneau was walked to load the bases with two outs in the eighth.
Bulger dropped one curveball over for a strike but left a second one in a location Kubel liked, and he put it in the upper reaches of the dome, up in the vicinity of the Kirby Puckett poster and the championship banners.
"They just put together some good at-bats at the end there and ended up getting the big hit," Angels catalyst Chone Figgins said. "It's gonna happen. Tip your hat.
"They battled,battled and battled and ended up getting the big hit for the win."
To their credit, the Angels did their fair share of battling back as well.
Kendry Morales, who had produced just one hit in 12 previous at-bats with runners in scoring position, delivered a pivotal two-out, two-run single to trigger a five-run seventh inning that had the Angels seemingly in command, 8-3.
Mike Napoli had an RBI single after Morales' clutch bullet to right field, and Erick Aybar delivered a two-run single. Two of Figgins' three singles came during the stormy seventh as they Angels took advantage of starter Nick Blackburn and relievers Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier.
But the Twins were far from done.
They tacked on an unearned run, courtesy of Rafael Rodriguez's throwing error, in the seventh, and then came the eruption.
Arredondo got a strikeout around a walk and a single, and in came the normally reliable Shields. Once again fighting his control, Shields was gone after yielding an RBI single, a walk and a two-run double to Denard Span.
"He says he's fine physically," Scioscia said of Shields, "but the ball's not coming out of his hand the way it can. We're going to have to look at it. Everybody pitches with something. Nobody's 100 percent."
Bulger had caught Brendan Harris looking at a third strike for the second out before the roof caved in on Kubel's crowning blow.
"It's a game we normally control and win," Scioscia said. "It got away from us. That's the best way to put it."
The Angels went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, a long, draining day over.
Moseley, who had opened the season with two strong outings, departed trailing, 2-0, after three innings. He said the location of this latest flareup was higher in the arm than the location of the elbow surgery performed on him after the 2007 season.
"It's frustrating," Moseley said, adding that he felt tightness in the elbow warming up and never really was able to get loose. "We'll see how it is tomorrow. I just don't know."
The Twins had struck quickly with a first-inning run on a walk and two-out RBI double by Kubel. Harris' solo homer to left, his first of the year, was followed in the third by a Kubel single and Michael Cuddyer's double. But a relay perfectly executed from Bobby Abreu to Howard Kendrick to Napoli at the plate cut down Kubel.
Quiet through four innings, the Angels broke through against Blackburn in the fifth. Consecutive singles by Juan Rivera, Aybar and Figgins loaded the bases for Kendrick, who banged a single through the middle for two runs. Maicer Izturis' groundout gave the Angels the 3-2 lead, but they were unable to capitalize on a first-and-third opportunity with one out.
They also left the bases loaded in the seventh after scoring five times. A few more runs didn't seem all that necessary at the time, but the Twins had other ideas.
"You get challenges every day in this game," Scioscia said. "You have to deal with them. And we will."
Lyle Spencer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
