MINNEAPOLIS – Where would the Cincinnati Reds be three weeks into the season without the heavy lifting of their strong-man bullpen?
“I don’t even know,” Reds starter Andrew Abbott said. “Definitely not where we are right now.”
It certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near first place in the National League Central after 21 games.
But there they were, the Reds off to their best 21-game start (13-8) since 2006 despite the worst-hitting, lowest-scoring lineup in the majors.
When they came back to win another one-run game, 5-4, and clinch a road series win against the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, the relief corps bent but didn’t break as the club improved to 10-0 in games decided by fewer than three runs, including 6-0 in one-run games.
The bullpen allowed one of Abbott’s inherited runners to score Saturday but wasn’t charged with a run in another 4 1/3 of scoreless pitching.
“It’s been big, because there’s not a ton of wiggle room,” manager Terry Francona said. “And fortunately they haven’t wiggled.”
By some metrics, the Reds have the best bullpen in the majors.
“We think so,” said closer Emilio Pagán, who’s 5-for-5 in save chances with seven straight scoreless outings since his lone clunker of the season, April 1 against the Pirates (four runs).
“We’ve been executing pitches at a pretty high level for the most part, and it’s fun,” he said. ”It’s fun to be a part of this group every day.”
Saturday’s effort in a game the Reds won on Dane Myers’ bloop RBI single in the ninth lowered the best bullpen ERA in the majors to 2.31 this season and preserved at least a share of first place in the division, pending the Tampa Bay-Pittsburgh result.
“It’s incredible,” said Abbott, who’s still looking to get his season back to the career form that earned an All-Star bid last year. “Guys stepping up in different areas, guys pitching in different situations, long situations, short situations, back-to-back days.
“Right now they’re picking us up big time.”
In those 10 games decided by one or two runs, the bulllpen’s ERA is 0.70 with nearly four innings pitched per game.
“They kind of complement each other and pick each other up,” said Francona, who had to adjust his plans for the relief crew in March because of injuries.
The pen opened with newly signed free agent Caleb Ferguson, the playoff-tested lefty, sidelined with an oblique injury, and when Nick Lodolo was added to the IL to open the season because of a blister, it meant the relief corps was short two projected arms (Brandon Williamson moving to the rotation).
Both remain on the IL, with Ferguson scheduled for a bullpen session Monday that might help determine a timeline for his return.
The group got another injury scare in the past week when Pagán’s left hamstring tightened during a save Tuesday night. By Thursday, he declared himself fit to pitch after an morning bullpen session — if with a compression wrap and a little discomfort.
Francona said he didn’t consider Pagán available until the series opener in Minnesota, when the right-hander converted a sixth consecutive save chance.
“As long as I can do my delivery down the mound and not have to change any of that, I think I’ll be fine,” Pagán said.
Tony Santillan, who still hasn’t allowed an earned run this season, closed out Saturday’s victory, following Sam Moll, Pierce Johnson, Brock Burke and Kyle Nicolas.
“I just try to go out there and attack the zone and be myself,” said Santillan, who struck out two in his 1-2-3 ninth Saturday. “If I’m attacking the zone and being myself good things happen.”
Winning close games was a problem for the Reds the last two years, including a 35-38 record in one- and two-run games during their 2025 playoff season.
They’re doing it so frequently already this year that they’re off to a better start than either of the Big Red Machine’s championship teams in the 1970s. Thanks to one strong-armed group. So far.
“The results are going to come and go with how often relievers throw,” Pagán said. “I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but as long as we’re throwing the ball well we don’t need to focus on the results.
“It seems like it’s somebody new every series that’s stepping up for us, covering multiple innings or throwing two out of three of the series.”
And if the starting rotation that has long been the projected strength of the team gets healthier? If the allegedly reinforced lineup starts hitting like it?
“It’s just a matter of time,” Abbott said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds’ pen mightier than slumping bats during strong start
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
