Short on bullpen options, Royals look to Bruce Chen for season’s longest outing

The first out of Sunday's game required 13 pitches from the left arm of Royals pitcher Bruce Chen. He fired his sinker, changeup, fastball, slider and curveball to Cleveland leadoff man Jose Ramirez before finally forcing a foul pop out.

A long batter. An even longer afternoon.

Chen threw a season-high 106 pitches Sunday during a 10-3 loss to Cleveland to close out a four-game set at Kauffman Stadium.

It was driven more by necessity than performance. The Royals were without the luxury of Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis at the back end of their bullpen Sunday. Recent usage made the right-handed trio unavailable, said manager Ned Yost, who in turn extended Chen into the sixth inning.

Chen allowed a 411-foot shot to Ryan Raburn to lead off the sixth inning before departing. He was charged with six runs on eight hits and two walks.

"I'm trying to buy as many outs there as I can with Chen," Yost said. "The first guy that got on — or the first guy that got into scoring position — we were going to bring (reliever Jason) Frasor into the game. We knew we were short down there. We were just trying to buy an extra out or two, which could have been big at the end of the game."

Chen sailed through the first three innings Sunday without a hit, but he threw 61 pitches over the three scoreless frames.

The quickly rising pitch total caught up to him over the next two innings. Nine of the next 15 hitters reached base.

A taxed bullpen — which will enjoy a much-needed day off Monday before the Twins visit Kansas City — allowed four runs in relief of Chen. Aaron Crow endured a three-run ninth, and Francisley Bueno allowed a run in the seventh. Frasor and Scott Downs had scoreless innings.

Those were the only four relievers available Sunday, Yost said. Each member of the seven-man bullpen threw in two of the first three games of the series.

"We were down to a four-man bullpen, and the four guys that we had (there) have pitched quite a bit this whole week," Yost said. "They got through it, but none of them were real sharp."

This story was originally published July 27, 2014 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Short on bullpen options, Royals look to Bruce Chen for season’s longest outing."