Let’s get something straight right away: ERA is just not a good indicator of performance when dealing with relief pitchers. And won-loss record is not a good indicator of performance for any pitcher.

To see what Bonine has done this year, you need to look a bit deeper. (Which I will do after the jump!)

I’m not well-versed in many of the advanced metrics of baseball, so I won’t pretend to be here. Talk to Matt for answers there (I’m sure he’ll back up what I’m saying). For me, one stat that has always seemed important in evaluating a good middle reliever is inherited runners. Frequently, relievers come into the game with men on base. The situations vary, of course, but whether your team is up by three or down by two, the idea is to prevent runs from scoring. Inherited runners that do score are charged to the pitcher that put them on base, so a reliever might allow three runs to score in one inning, but if he entered the game with the sacks drunk, none of those runs are his.

The league average for allowing inherited runners to score is 32%. The Tigers have a few relievers above that mark and a few below, as one might expect. Joel Zumaya was allowing just 23% of inherited runners to score (6 of 26), Ryan Perry has allowed just 16% of his 19 inherited runners to score, and Jose Valverde, who has only inherited five runners, is at 20%. Not surprising that the guys considered to be the better arms are leading the pack here. Phil Coke comes in at just under the average, allowing 31%.

If the better relievers are doing well with this number, one could expect that Bonine, with his ERA and W-L record being what they are, should be there as well. This is not the case.

While you would expect to see Fu-Te Ni and Brad Thomas as below average here, you do, with Thomas allowing 44% and Ni 41%. Those would represent the highest percentage of inherited runners scoring on the team (pitchers with a minimum of 3 IP) if not for Bonine. Our boy Eddie come is at a whopping 63%, nearly twice as high as the league average. He has inherited 19 runners, the same total as Perry, and allowed 12 of them to score. That’s just not getting it done.

Bonine has walked nearly as many batters (15) as he has fanned (19) in his 42.1 innings this year. He has benefited from an extremely low BABIP of .245. He’s stranding an amazing 87% of his runners, though he strands just 37% of runners the other guy puts on. He must not like his teammates much.

Simply put, if you were to look only at the numbers that show up on the screen when he enters a game, you’d think he’s been one of the Tigers more valuable guys. Looking deeper, Fangraphs has Bonine at a WAR of -0.6. For reference, they calculated the WAR of Ni at -0.1 and Thomas at a positive 0.1. Take that for what it’s worth, but no one has been overheard talking about the great seasons that either of those two are having.

For me, all I can tell you is that when Bonine enters the game, you should be shuddering, not cheering, especially if there are runners on when he comes in. Chances are, those runners are about to score.

Last night was all about the return of Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. The D-backs newest southpaw displayed the same wildness, and much the same results he found while pitching for the Tigers.

Detroit jumped out to an early 4-0 lead thanks to Willis’ wildness and some timely hitting. Willis walked the first batter of the game, a common occurrence for him, and two batters later, Magglio Ordonez crushed a two-run homer to the deepest part of the yard. In the second inning, Brandon Inge doubled to start the frame and rode home on a double by Danny Worth. Ryan Raburn then brought in another run with a sacrifice fly.

But for all of his struggles early, Willis settled in a bit and allowed just one more Tiger to cross the plate. His teammates battled back and tied the score at 4-4 in the fifth against Tigers starter Armando Galarraga. Galarraga was solid early, but wore down due to the oppressive heat and humidity, he said as much after the game.

Arizona got a homer from Miguel Montero in the fourth, then scored three times in the fifth before Galarraga was lifted from the game. After Detroit took the lead again in the bottom of the inning, Brad Thomas couldn’t hold it and the two teams were square at five headed to the eighth.

With a major storm threatening the game, Brandon Inge centered a Chad Qualls fastball and drove it over the head of Chris Young in center for a triple, scoring Brennan Boesch from first. Alex Avila then brought Inge home with an important insurance run. Jose Valverde, a former Diamondback, sat down the side in order in the ninth, picking up his 15th save of the year. (…)

Cheers for

• Brandon Inge- Inge collected a season-high three hits, falling a home run shy of the cycle. He scored twice and drove in the winning run with his eighth inning triple. He has risen his batting average all the way up to .264, by batting .397 (25-for-63) over his last 17 games.
• Danny Worth- As much as I was disappointed by seeing Worth’s name in the lineup, he delivered last night. After collecting just one hit in 16 at bats since being recalled, Worth came through by reaching base three times, including two hits.
• Magglio Ordonez- Last year, Maggs managed just nine home runs, and it took him until game 163 to do that. This year, in just 57 games, Ordonez has matched that total thanks to his two-run shot last night. He’s batting .333 and already has 45 runs batted in.
• Eddie Bonine- Bonine entered the game and immediately shut down the D-backs. He worked two full innings, allowing just one hit, keeping the game tied until the Tigers could scratch out some runs.

Jeers for

• Brad Thomas- Thomas has been good for Detroit this year, especially recently, but he was ineffective in his one inning of work last night. After allowing an inherited runner to tie the game in the fifth, he gave up one of his own to re-tie the game in the sixth.
• Armando Galarraga- He wasn’t nearly as good as he has been, but this wasn’t as bad as his numbers indicate, either. Galarraga had trouble with a lineup that featured seven left handed bats, neutralizing his slider and forcing him to nibble at the outside corner. Galarraga is much better when he’s attacking the zone, but he didn’t do that very often last night.

The Tigers will see another former teammate on the mound tonight, in the person of Edwin Jackson. EJax won 13 games and made the all-star team for the Tigers last season, but has struggled in his first campaign in the desert, posting a 5.18 ERA thus far.

Detroit will send another struggling right hander to the hill to oppose him in Rick Porcello, who was skipped over in his last turn through the rotation. For the Tigers to have success tonight, they’ll need Porcello to get his sinker down, and for Jackson to get his up.  To see the opposing view, check out Venom Strikes.

The Tigers have closed to within a half game of first-place Minnesota, thanks to some favorable interleague scheduling. The Twins face off again with the Phillies today.

Things started out so well for the Detroit Nine, Rick Porcello retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, allowing a solo homer to Alexei Ramirez in the third, but nothing else.

Then Chicago opened the fourth with five consecutive hits, scoring three runs, before Porcello recorded the first out of the frame. No sooner had that out been recorded, Porcello served up a long three-run homer to Ramon Castro, then gave up a double off the wall to Gordon Beckham, who would eventually score the eighth run after Porcello had mercifully been yanked from the game. (…)

By the time Eddie Bonine had finished the fourth innings, the Sox held an 8-1 edge and hung a season-high seven runs on the Tigers in that inning. They enjoyed the seven-run frame so much, that they did it again in the eighth, those runs coming against Bonine and Fu-Te Ni.

Porcello had entered the game last night with a 5.25 ERA. After the book was closed on him it was sitting at 6.09. This simply cannot continue.

During the innings after Porcello was pulled, the Twittersphere was blowing up with fans plotting travel arrangements for young Mr. Porcello. Surely, we all figured, he was on his way to the minor leagues. Bonine had been kept in to try to close out the game, he was obviously being stretched out to make the start in five days.

Or not, I guess.

Bonine ran into a great deal of trouble late, leading to the second huge inning for Chicago. Perhaps he’s really is just better in shorter relief outings, he’s been great in that role so far this year.

After the game, the Tigers announced that they were purchasing the contract of RH Enrique Gonzalez from AAA Toledo. There it is, Porcello was to be optioned out, right?

Nope. Instead, RH reliever Ryan Perry was sent to the disabled list to make room for Gonzalez. Wait, what?

Perry is DL’d with right shoulder tendinitis, which is a euphemism for having allowed 10 hits and nine earned runs over his last three innings. Last year, the Tigers would have called that an anxiety disorder, perhaps.

Not that Detroit is the only club that uses the disabled list this way, just look at the Mets, who have decided that Oliver Perez’s inability to throw strikes should be classified as a knee problem. Regardless of whether or not Perry is actually hurt or just being shut down for a while, calling up Gonzalez, a starter, to take his place doesn’t seem to make much sense.

Porcello obviously won’t be pitching for at least a few days, and with Bonine having thrown 66 pitches last night, neither will he. Perry is a reliever as well, and now he’s unavailable. So why recall a starter?

There are any number of quality relief arms in Toledo right now, there should be, Dave Dombrowski has spent the better part of a decade stockpiling them. But instead of giving the promotion to Jay Sborz or Dan Schlereth, or even Casey Fien, they called up a starter and will now apparently ask him to work from the bullpen. Using a pitcher in unfamiliar surroundings in an unfamiliar role seems like a bad idea.

I understand calling up Gonzalez if Porcello was being demoted, as he should be. Gonzalez would have slotted nicely into the rotation until Porcello could work out his problems, and figure out that he should probably try throwing his curveball again. In fairness, I’ve heard that the abandonment of the curve was the Tigers idea, not Porcello’s, might be time to re-think that one.

Maybe Porcello will be working in relief for a while, but again, an unfamiliar role for a struggling pitcher seems odd when there are so many built-in relief options. Or it could be that Porcello will be sent down at some point before his next scheduled start, whatever happens, I am hoping against hope that Porcello doesn’t make his turn in five days.

The Tigers can’t afford to keep surrendering games by running him out there.