Dallas Keuchel made a relief appearance out of the White Sox bullpen on Saturday night. The former Astro’s ace is desperate to crack the playoff roster and face his former team in the ALDS.
Pitching out of the bullpen is not something the 2015 AL Cy-Young winner envisioned heading into the season. Keuchel was coming off a dominant 2020 season, where he posted a 1.99 ERA and finished in the top-five of the American League Cy Young vote. In 2021 we have seen a complete 180.
This season the veteran southpaw has gotten shelled. Opponents have a .290 batting average against him. Keuchel finished the year with a bloated 5.28 ERA. At the beginning of September Keuchel acknowledged the fact that he was the weakest link in the starting rotation and that he needed to be better. Instead, things got worse. During his last seven appearances, he has an 8.20 ERA.
The dilemma for the White Sox is that they are paying Keuchel because of his postseason experience. Keuchel has a career ERA of 3.71 in the playoffs along with a World Series ring.
But it has been made clear that Keuchel was not going to crack the four-man playoff rotation. However, the White Sox still want his playoff resume on the roster so the solution was to try him as a relief pitcher. With questions surrounding Carlos Rodon’s shoulder durability, it wouldn’t hurt to have another long reliever in the bullpen.
Unfortunately for Keuchel, his bullpen audition was a complete disaster. He entered the game during the seventh inning of a one-run contest against the Detroit Tigers. He retired Jemier Candelario on a hard-hit line drive to center field that was caught by Luis Robert. Then he surrendered a single to Isaac Paredes. Paredes advanced to second base on a wild pitch. With a runner on second, Keuchel struck out Harold Castro on three pitches and it looked like he would escape the inning unscathed.
That’s when the wheels fell off. Keuchel served up a single, then a double then a walk. Ethan Katz came out for a mound visit but it didn’t help because Keuchel proceeded to give up a single. After surrendering three runs Keuchel couldn’t even make it out of the inning. he was yanked in favor of Matt Foster who had to clean up his mess. In 0.2 innings of work Keuchel allowed three runs on four hits with along with walk and a wild pitch for good measure.
Officially, this is not Keucehl’s first relief appearance this season. He also made a relief appearance on June 26th during the first game of a doubleheader against the Mariners. The previous game was delayed in the third inning due to rain so Kuechel was called upon to take the ball the next day when play resumed. It marked his first relief appearance since August 6th, 2013 in Boston for the Houston Astros. Keuchel pitched well throwing 5.0 innings giving up two runs. However, Keuchel’s preparation was that of a starter because he had a full warmup before the game and it came on his scheduled day to start.
Keuchel certainly provides a better option than Mike Wright but Reynaldo Lopez has served as a reliable long-relief option and could get the edge on Keuchel. The White Sox are looking for every excuse to get him on the playoff roster. But Keuchel did not make their job easy with his performance on Saturday.
