CLEVELAND — What’s wrong with Rafael Betancourt?
The right-hander has gone from top-shelf setup man to unreliable late-inning reliever in less than a calendar year, with his struggles over the first two months of the regular season serving as yet another reminder of the fickle nature of bullpen work.
Betancourt, one of the Indians’ most consistent relievers over the past four seasons, looks like a different pitcher in 2008, and his manager, Eric Wedge, thinks he knows why.
“Until he starts throwing inside, until he starts trusting his stuff to both sides of the plate, they’re going to keep leaning out there and hitting him,” Wedge said. “It’s nothing that I haven’t said to him and (pitching coach) Carl (Willis) hasn’t said to him 100 times, so, now I’m saying it to (the media).
“The bottom line is that until he has enough trust and passion about throwing the ball inside, they’re going to continue to go out and hit it. We’ve seen right-handers do it to him. We’ve seen left-handers do it to him, so that’s the difference.”
Wedge’s unusually strong critical assessment of Betancourt’s performance through the first 53 games came immediately after the pitcher blew a save and took the loss in a 6-5 setback to the White Sox on Wednesday, which gave Chicago the series and a 5½-game lead over the defending Central Division champion Indians.
If Wedge is correct, Betancourt’s reluctance to throw inside is understandable. He has earned a living on the outside portion of the plate with a style that has made him one of the American League’s top relievers.
But for whatever reason, that approach hasn’t worked this year, with Betancourt no longer a lock to hand the ball to the closer with the lead intact. He has posted a 1-3 record and 5.56 ERA in 23 appearances (22 2/3 innings), while allowing 10 earned runs on 18 hits over his last 16 games, covering 15 2/3 innings. Opposing hitters are batting a boisterous .347 off Betancourt after hitting .183 against him last year.
He was asked if it was time to consider a new strategy after the loss to White Sox.
“I know people are going to start talking about (throwing inside),” Betancourt said. “All I have to do is pitch. If I have to pitch inside, I have to do it. If I have to throw the ball on the outside corner, I have to do it.
“Probably no one would have said this to me last year.”
Betancourt’s catcher and fellow Venezuelan, Victor Martinez, seemed to come to the pitcher’s defense, when asked if his failure to throw inside led to his unraveling against Chicago.
“Man, I mean, they got clutch hits, that’s it,” Martinez said. “They had a bat in their hand. They’re swinging the bat pretty good right now, so that’s what happened.”
What is clear is that Betancourt isn’t locating his 92-94 mph fastball nearly as well as he did last year, or throughout his career, for that matter. In the loss to the Sox, he allowed consecutive doubles to A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin, which won the game for Chicago, on pitches that were up and found too much of the outside portion of the plate.
For Wedge, there is only one solution to Betancourt’s problem — start pitching inside. Both parties have admitted to meeting on the subject, and any other response from the pitcher is unacceptable in the manager’s mind.
“There’s no excuse for it,” Wedge said. “There’s nothing that he can say that is going to make any sense, because what you see and what’s happening is real. He has enough command with his pitches, where he can throw the ball to both sides of the plate.
“It’s no different than any other area of our club or any other individual, when you talk about what you’re seeing time and time again. So, eventually, they stick it up your you-know-what or you make adjustments. Until our guys start making adjustments, they’re going to stick it to us.”
Betancourt appears ready to fall in line.
“I always do what they ask me to do,” he said. “I have to make better pitches.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

TONIGHT

WHO: Cleveland at Kansas City
TIME: 8:10
WHERE: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.
PITCHERS: Lee (7-1, 1.50 ERA) vs. Meche (3-7, 5.35)
TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

 

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