51s bullpen looks for relief after first week of PCL season

Before the season started, 51s manager Wally Backman was heaping praise on his bullpen.

And though Backman said it’s the best bullpen he’s had in four years in Las Vegas, he has had to call upon it more than he would like early in the season.

The bullpen, considered to be a strength of the team, has been taxed considerably as the starters have turned in short outings. It’s a problem that should have been somewhat eased by two rainouts, but in the three starts after the postponements, only one starter reached the fifth inning.

It got to the point in Wednesday’s game that Backman was considering putting Ty Kelly, a position player, in to pitch to help preserve bullpen arms.

“When your starting pitching can’t get you as far as you need it to get, it attacks the bullpen fast,” Backman said.

Before Thursday’s game against the Sacramento River Cats at Cashman Field, five relievers had made three appearances in the first five games, and one — Dario Alvarez — had made four.

In those games, the starters had combined for 21 1/3 innings. The relievers were at 23 2/3.

“You don’t think five games into a season a) that they’ll have more innings pitched than the starters, but b) they’ll already have three appearances already,” pitching coach Frank Viola said before Thursday’s game. “We’re going to kill them if we don’t get some innings out of the starting pitchers.”

In Thursday’s game, a 6-2 Las Vegas victory, Seth Lugo helped ease some of the problem, tossing six innings in the longest start by a 51s starter. But in the first turn through the rotation, only two starters pitched five innings, and one, Rafael Montero, was recalled by the Mets this week.

And now Montero’s absence makes an already challenging situation more difficult for the 51s.

The 51s already have to go to Andrew Barbosa, a spot starter, on Friday against Fresno. It’ll be Barbosa’s first start at Triple A, and he’ll have to make it on the road against the defending Pacific Coast League champions, perhaps not the most ideal situation for a team that needs innings from its starters.

And when Montero’s spot in the rotation comes back around Monday, the 51s will have to figure out a way to fill it if he’s still with the Mets, possibly turning to Stolmy Pimentel or to another spot starter.

The second time through the rotation, 51s starters should be more stretched out, which, in theory, should help get more innings out of them. All of the starters were held to a pitch limit of around 85, except for Sean Gilmartin, whose limit was slightly lower.

But even the pitch limit wasn’t as crippling to the 51s as ineffectiveness.

“When you give a guy an opportunity to throw 85 pitches, you should be, if you have a relatively decent game, you’re going to be into the sixth and possibly into the seventh inning, and that just hasn’t happened,” Backman said.

After five games, the team had a 1.82 WHIP, the highest in the PCL, and had given up 27 walks.

“In a nutshell, we’re not throwing enough strikes. I mean, you can’t walk six-and-a-half guys per nine innings,” Viola said. “Granted, the umpiring hasn’t been great in a couple of games, but that’s not an excuse. You still have to attack the zone, and we have not done that yet.”

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand