Since 4/25, the bullpen has allowed 7 homeruns in 118 innings pitched. During that span, they've posted an ERA of 2.59, and that includes the Wasserman, Masset, and Loaiza back end. Two of those 7 HR were allowed in garbage time by Masset and Loaiza last week against the Twins. Let's take a look at the other 5.
- 4/28 -- 11th inning -- Ramon Hernandez hits a solo shot off Scott Linebrink. Sox tie it in bottom of 11th. Game continues in perpetuity.
- 5/09 -- 9th inning -- Wladimir Balentin hits a solo shot to draw M's within 2. Bobby Jenks needs just 9 pitches all strikes to get the save.
- 5/30 -- 9th inning -- Linebrink gives up a second-pitch walkoff to Cliff Floyd
- 6/01 -- 10th inning -- Matt Thornton gives Gabe Gross a breaking ball to deposit in the RF seats for the Rays second walk-off of the series.
- 6/12 -- 9th inning -- Miguel Cabrera takes Octavio Dotel deep for the Sox 3rd walk-off loss in their last 6 road games.
It strikes me as incredibly unlucky that the bullpen can be simultaneously this good--The 5 high-leverage guys have combined for a 1.55 ERA since 4/25--yet so incredibly unlucky. Those 5 have a 8-3 record since my cherry-picked date, with all 3 losses coming on walk-off HRs.
The above games have something else in common, lack of offense. They scored more than 3 runs in just one of the games (the lone victory highlighted), and combined to score 12 runs total in the 5 games.