One of the most entertaining parts of the Rangers' Opening Day win on Monday was the fact they relied on their lockdown bullpen to preserve a one-run lead over the game's final two innings, and they did it with ease.
On Tuesday, the Rangers once again got a solid start before turning the game over to the bullpen in the seventh inning of a 2-2 game. The results weren't nearly as good.
The Rangers used their two new bullpen pieces, Tony Barnette and former Mariner Tom Wilhelmsen, and things went very poorly.
Barnette started the seventh inning, making his MLB debut after spending years in Japan, and gave up two runs while getting just two outs. Jake Diekman finished the inning with just one pitch. So with a 4-2 deficit, they turned to Wilhelmsen in the eighth and he gave up five runs on four hits, recorded no outs, and was tossed for beaning Chris Ianetta after a second home run in the inning.
It wasn't pretty.
The good thing, however, is that you can't expect this Rangers' bullpen to implode very often. Tuesday just wasn't its night.
