Bruce Bochy Needs to Reshuffle Giants Bullpen After Embarrassing Game 2 Blowup

Even after Wednesday night's 7-2 shellacking at the hands of the Kansas City Royals in Game 2 of the World Series, the San Francisco Giants head back to the Bay Area with things knotted at one game apiece. They'll take it.

What they can't take is the performance—or lack thereof—they got out of their bullpen, which allowed five runs to score in a fateful, feckless sixth inning.

Starter Jake Peavy opened the sixth by giving up a walk and a single. That brought manager Bruce Bochy to the mound, a path he would soon wear to dirt.

Bochy summoned right-hander Jean Machi, and Machi promptly surrendered an RBI single to Billy Butler that broke a 2-2 tie. That felt like a steep enough hill for the Giants to climb, with the Royals' shutdown late-inning relief corps lined up to finish the job.

Turns out KC was just getting started. As the raucous Kauffman Stadium faithful went from happy to ecstatic to delirious, the Royals teed off on the San Francisco 'pen.

Lefty specialist Javier Lopez retired Alex Gordon for the first out, but then Bochy turned to hard-throwing rookie Hunter Strickland. Bad move.

Strickland, whose fastball can touch triple digits, has looked electric at times this postseason. But the 26-year-old has also shown a disturbing propensity for coughing up the long ball. Through 5.1 October innings entering Wednesday, Strickland had already watched four of his offerings sail over the wall.

After giving up a two-run double to Salvador Perez, Strickland made it five dingers allowed, as Omar Infante spanked a line drive into the left-field bleachers to make it 7-2 and shove the game officially out of reach.

That's when Strickland, who began the season at Double-A and threw just seven big league innings before the postseason, melted down completely, getting into a shouting match with Perez as the incredulous Royals catcher crossed home plate.

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

The altercation briefly cleared the Kansas City bench but didn't spark any ejections. It did, however, show that Strickland, crackling fastball aside, isn't ready for prime time. CSN Bay Area's Andrew Baggarly hit the scathing nail on the head when he termed this Strickland's "Byung-Hyun Kim postseason."

"My emotions got the best of me," the young fireballer said after the game, per Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle. "And I’m not too proud of that."

Suddenly, a San Francisco bullpen that posted a 3.01 ERA in the regular season, fifth-best in the majors, and has been an asset for most of this postseason is a serious question mark.

Door-slamming duties are covered. Closer Santiago Casilla has twirled seven scoreless frames in October. Slider-slinging setup man Sergio Romo had a hiccup in the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals but has otherwise thrown well.

And the lefty duo of Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt, a key cog in San Francisco's 2010 and 2012 World Series runs, is battle-tested.

The right-handed middle relief, on the other hand, is shaky at best.

Machi had a nice season, posting a 2.58 ERA in 71 appearances. In the playoffs, meanwhile, he's lost command of his split-finger fastball and watched his October ERA balloon to 11.57.

Elsa/Getty Images

Then there's Strickland. Clearly Bochy and the Giants see this kid as a game-changing talent, and at times he plays the part. He dominated these very Royals in San Francisco's Game 1 win, striking out two and looking positively nasty.

Yet he's too mercurial to be trusted in high-leverage situations. If not him, though...who?

For a moment, it appeared the answer might be Tim Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young winner and forgotten man. Lincecum has been on the Giants' active roster for each 2014 postseason round but hadn't thrown a pitch entering Wednesday.

He finally took the hill in Game 2—and he dealt, retiring all five hitters he faced and punching out a pair. "He's pitched himself into an option at some point," Fox analyst Tom Verducci opined in the midst of Lincecum's vintage performance.

Then the slender right-hander stumbled on the mound, grimaced and ultimately left the game with what Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News termed "back tightness."

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Until we know more, it's hard to say how much of a factor Lincecum will be going forward, or even if he'll pitch again in 2014. If possible, expect Bochy to lean more heavily on his former ace.

The Giants can also turn to right-hander Yusmeiro Petit, who has pitched nine shutout innings in the playoffs, including six in the Game 2 18-inning marathon of the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals.

Petit is the long man, the fail-safe if the starter flames out early. But it might be time to re-imagine his role, to use him as a bridge to the eighth and ninth. Either way, something's got to change.

As they fly home, the Giants will certainly take a 1-1 series tie. After a dispiriting night, they should also take a long, hard look at their bullpen.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.