Ausmus on K-Rod: “We have to find out”

Once Brad Ausmus needed Shane Greene and Blaine Hardy to get through the sixth inning with a lead Monday night, he was going to need somebody besides the Wilsons to pitch one of the later innings. Alex Wilson, despite being well-rested, has pitched two innings only once this season, and Justin Wilson wasn’t going to get the call for more than three outs for reasons short of a matchup urgency.

Enter Francisco Rodriguez, the man who used to get the call to protect leads in the ninth, but hadn’t been called upon in a save or hold situation since his blown saves in Oakland a few weeks ago. He ended up with a blown save this time, too, Rodriguez battling Lorenzo Cain for nine pitches before yielding a leadoff walk, then giving up a go-ahead two-run home run to Eric Hosmer. Once the Tigers pulled back in front with a four-run eighth, Alex and Justin Wilson finished it out.

Rodriguez’s changeup seemed to have been refined, a tick slower to create a greater velocity gap with his fastball. His fastball command, however, remained suspect, and he paid for it, both with ball four to Cain (who fouled off three consecutive full-count) changeups and with his 1–0 pitch to Hosmer, an elevated offspeed pitch off the plate that Hosmer sent out to left.

To some degree, it was a situation out of necessity. Ausmus was going to need a third reliever; the only thing he might have been able to change was whether Rodriguez or Alex Wilson faced the middle of the Royals order in the seventh.

But as Ausmus admitted after the game, to a degree, Rodriguez was a matter of his choice.

“We were going to need someone to get through it, but to be honest with you, I was probably going to use Frankie today in that situation anyway,” Ausmus said. “I wasn’t forced. Even if Greene gets through that [sixth] inning, Frankie throws the following inning anyway.”

The reason, Ausmus said, was to test his deposed closer once again in a high-leverage situation. He had been exiled to lower-pressure work for a few weeks, and hadn’t pitched in over a week. Ausmus wanted to figure out if he was ready to pitch under pressure again, maybe not closing.

“Normally guys like him are more effective when the game’s on the line,” Ausmus said. “He has always pitched like that, and I think we have to find out if he can pitch with the game on the line, quite frankly. …

“Even after tonight, I still think we’re going to have to test him to make sure.”

Asked what happens if he doesn’t pass the test, Ausmus said, “We’ll figure that out if he can’t. There’s no decision being made on that.”