Archie Bradley had a no good, terrible, very bad day Sunday in Colorado. With a 7-3 over the Rockies in the 8th inning Archie was called from the bullpen to keep the Dbacks lead intact with a sweep on the line as well as a five game win streak. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned. Archie’s 8th inning looked like this,
- Trevor Story singles
- Daniel Murphy reaches on a fielder's choice. Trevor Story safe at second on throwing error by Escobar. None out.
- Nolan Arenado singles. Bases loaded. None out
- David Dahl walks. Story scores. Bases loaded.None out
- Raimel Tapia triples. Murphy, Arenado & Dahl score. Tie game. None out
It took just 18 pitches for fan favorite Archie Bradley to collapse and balloon his 2019 ERA to 4.50 in just 14 games.
Post All-Star break last season Archie’s ERA was 6.58.
It’s clear Archie is not the same pitcher that dominated the 2017 season on the way to a Dbacks postseason berth.
It’s a bad stretch for “The Beard” but the question now arises, What should the Dbacks do with the fan favorite reliever?
Maybe it’s just as easy as our poll on Monday.
It’s clear he’s not closer material so that’s not an option.
Does he become the new 6th or 7th inning guy?
Does Torey continue to show his loyalty to his players and just keep throwing him out in big situations and just hope he figures it out? Torey tried that with last year’s bullpen and it cost them a playoff spot with a terrible September.
If you listen to Torey Lovullo it sounds like changes won’t be coming,
“We’re not going to run from our guys. We believe in our guys; we know who they are. We just have to have them make some adjustments, subtle adjustments from outing-to-outing and inning-to-inning, and expect to go out there and have good things happen.”
We are all rooting for Archie Bradley to turn things around. Not only because of his personality but because with a 20-win team right now the Dbacks are going to need a lights-out bullpen if they want to surprise everyone and become a playoff contender.