Owens at the Closer

by craig on Apr 24, 2007 7:11 AM EDT in News and Rumors

Henry Owens was pulled out of a save opportunity Monday after giving up a solo homer and two doubles against the Braves.
Fortunately, the Marlins had a three-run lead to work with. Owens was replaced by lefty Renyel Pinto with Brian McCann coming up to pinch-hit, and Pinto got the strikeout to end it, giving him a save. Owens' second shaky appearance of the year isn't going to prevent him from getting more save opportunities. Still, he isn't working with a long leash.

That's probably about right. Owens was cruising until the Jones Boys and Francoeur showed up and that is when all the trouble started. It was my observation that no one on the Marlins staff could get them out with any consistency last night, not even Dontrelle. It was probably a major achievement he faced them, as hot as they are, and kept the lead in tack.

So when Bobby Cox decided to use Brian McCann as pinch hitter, it only made perfect sense to bring in the lefty Pinto. McCann is hitting .267 against lefties while scorching righties at a .389 clip.