Yankees Manager Has Confidence in Struggling Bullpen

The New York Yankees' bullpen has been about as bad as possible in their current series with the Detroit Tigers. Having now lost two consecutive games by 10 runs, the relievers are under fire yet again in a season largely defined by pitching issues.

In the first game of the Tigers series, the Yankees bullpen — specifically Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. — gave up nine runs in just the seventh inning, turning a 2-2 tie into a 12-2 beatdown by the time it was over. In this second game, they turned a 2-0 game into an 11-1 loss. Yankees manager Aaron Boone shared why he still believes in them.

"Track record, stuff, who they are," Boone said, h/t Chris Kirschner of the Athletic. "Obviously, we got to get a couple guys on track so we can create that depth that we can have down there. A bullpen ERA in short samples like that can be a little misleading, like when you have a handful of games where it really gets away and it gets blown up. I feel like through this stretch of games, where over the last month we started winning, we've closed out a lot of good games, too, with guys capable of shutting people down. This is what we have."

"I've had a lot of confidence in their ability and their stuff, but we got to bring it together. We haven't done that consistently enough yet. Can we do it? That's what we're going to find out. That's what we're going to need to do if we're going to make a big run at this."

This is not a short sample, as Boone suggested; the Yankees' bullpen ERA has been over 5.00 since the All Star break.