Surely, the homer Mitchell Boggs gave up to Jeff Francoeur wasn’t the only reason he was demoted to Triple-A Memphis by the Cardinals on Friday.
It was mostly that, though.
Boggs, who opened the season as the Cardinals’ closer, was optioned to the minors for the second time this year after taking a blown save and a loss to the struggling Royals on Thursday night. It was the third time in four appearances since his return from Triple-A that he gave up a run.
Mike Matheny made the choice to go to Boggs in a 2-1 game in the ninth last night with Edward Mujica and Trevor Rosenthal worn out and needing a rest, and Boggs gave up the game-tying homer to Francoeur on his second pitch of the evening. It was only Francoeur’s second homer in 153 at-bats this season.
Boggs went on to walk the next batter he faced and was pulled afterwards. The runner later came around to score off Victor Marte. The outing took his ERA to 11.05 for the season. He’s allowed 20 runs -- 18 earned -- and walked 15 batters in 14 2/3 innings.
Boggs also allowed exactly 20 runs last year, 18 of which were earned. He threw 73 1/3 innings then and finished with a 2.21 ERA.
Reliever Keith Butler was called up to replace Boggs on the roster.
