Manager Trey Hillman continues to pull the wrong switches in his bullpen machinations, and his Royals relievers continue to let him down.
With the scored tied 2-2 in the eighth inning Thursday and left-handed Cleveland outfielder Grady Sizemore coming to the plate, Hillman brought in lefty Ron Mahay from the bullpen. Sizemore hit a three-run homer on Mahay's second pitch, dooming the Royals to a 5-2 defeat. Hillman had righty Juan Cruz warming up at the same time but opted to go with the lefty-lefty match up, even though Mahay has been struggling.
Mahay and fellow reliever Kyle Farnsworth are a combined 1-4, accounting for four of the seven Royals defeats.
Mahay had a 1.75 ERA last season before being bothered by plantar fasciitis, which required foot surgery in January. After the foot injury last season, Mahay's ERA was 15.75 in 10 outings. He owns a 9.82 ERA this April.
"He's not off to the same start we saw last year," Hillman said.
Mahay has allowed six hits and four earned runs while allowing four inherited runners to score in 2 2/3 innings in his past four outings.
Farnsworth has an even worse ERA, 14.54.
INDIANS 5, ROYALS 2: RHP Gil Meche absorbed the loss Thursday although he had retired 16 straight entering the eighth while protecting a one-run lead. When Meche gave up three straight hits and 2B Alberto Callaspo committed a costly error, LHP Ron Mahay was summoned from the bullpen. Mahay gave up a three-run home run to Grady Sizemore.
The game was lost as much in the fourth as the eighth, as the Royals loaded the bases with no outs and failed to score.
