It has been a battle for the Cincinnati Reds bullpen in 2020, and for Michael Lorenzen it has been an even bigger one. The right-back has been doing very well since transitioning to the bullpen after the 2015 season, placing an ERA of 3.39 in 297.1 innings from 2016-2019 for the Reds. But 2020 has been a 2-week stretch that he would not like to continue. On Sunday, he entered the game with an 11.81 ERA in six appearances, and on top of the seven earned runs he was charged with, he had also allowed both hereditary runners to score games with him at base. Only one game out of six did not allow him to run at least one run.
Sunday in Milwaukee was more the same. Sonny Gray ended the game with one out and two runs in the 6th inning. Michael Lorenzen came in and allowed a walk, an RBI single, and then ran in two more runs before being replaced by Cody Reed. No outs recorded, two inherited runes scored, and he was charged with three deserved runes of his own. At the end of the day, his ERA is at 16.88.
“It really comes back to as much success as Michael’s had in his career, at the moment he’s struggling with his confidence,” manager David Bell said after the game. ‘The most important thing is that we need him. We need him to be good. We know he will, and I’ll make sure he knows. That’s the most important thing. We’ll just help him out and look for opportunities to get him involved. ”
The Reds have used Michael Lorenzen in critical situations this season because of his track record in the past. However, that has not turned out so well, considering how he came up again this year.
“We always have to pay attention to who picks well,” Bell said. ‘You trust the job, but of course we evaluate every day to see where guys are and to know where guys should be used and with where we are in our bullpen, or at any moment where’ t we have an advantage as a close game and we have to get through the 6th to 9th inning, Michael will get a chance to pitch in that game. Simple as that – it did not work today. Michael will be fine, Michael will be a long pitcher and we just have to do everything to help him here. I know in the end it’s up to him, and that’s actually what I trust – I believe in him a ton, we all do, he’ll get through it. ”
With runners at the base, and Lorenzen having the problems he faced in the early part of this season, Bell explained why he was the option in the 6th.
‘We had Michael in the 5th, and then Sonny really made some pitches, so we decided we would let him go back. To get the nine innings today, Michael was one of the guys we were going to go to today, ‘Bell said. ‘The fact that he’s hot, if we’d have sat him back – never occurred to me. Mainly because we believe in Michael and we just wanted to give him the ball there. We had Michael, Amir, Nate Jones, and Iggy – basically an inning a piece, max. They would all get the ball to win a win there. ”
Moving forward, it sounds like there could be some changes in how Michael Lorenzen could be used after his move this weekend in Milwaukee.
‘We have to do what’s best for Michael. I have not talked to Michael yet, this is all very fresh, “said Bell. ‘He had an outing last night where it did not go perfectly and he allowed a run. We made a decision before the game that the best thing for Michael was to give him the ball back when the situation presented itself. While we were in the game, we knew he would be one of the guys to get us through the game at that point. That was yesterday and today. Now we go ahead and reevaluate and see what we can do to get him back to where he needs to be. We will think about it, but at this point for our team and for Michael we need to do what is best for him. ”
Sonny Gray was the receiver of runes who charged him after he left the game on Sunday. He was asked about what it is like to watch the teamwork of a teammate.
“To get this team and us where we want to go, he will be a big part of it,” Gray said. ‘I’m had a hard time with myself. It’s hard to see because you know how talented he is and you know how much he cares. It’s just that he’s going to have to sit back, take a deep breath, gather himself forward and make an adjustment from there. It will have to start between the ears. He needs to figure out who he wants to be, in what direction he wants to go. His talent is through the roof, there is no question about it. But we will need him going forward. To get us where we want to go, he will be a big part of it. I have every faith in Michael that he will get himself right. And once he gets the understanding, I think he will start in the right direction. “
This is not the first time in Michael Lorenzen’s career that he’s had some trouble on the mound, although it’s been a while since he has. As a rookie back in 2015, he was in the starting rotation and from July 20 to August 31, he made six starts and allowed 32 runs in 24.0 innings. That’s an ERA of 12.00 over a span of six weeks. But he got things figured out and turned them around. He’s been there before, where he’s probably got some questions about his game and execution and he’s come out the other side. Hopefully he can tackle that again and things are going in the right direction, and soon, because the season may be early, but it’s not very long either and the Reds need their bulls to dramatically improve from where it has been to start the season.
