The past became the future Thursday when Manuel Corpas was replaced as closer by Brian Fuentes, the reliever with whom he flip-flopped roles last season.
The team in a slump, close games becoming a daily heart-in-a-blender experience, manager Clint Hurdle decided to make a change after Corpas’ repeated ineffectiveness.
“You need to do what’s best for the club, and that’s giving the ball to Brian and taking the heat off Manny,” Hurdle said. “I am not even thinking about how Manny will pitch in a week or two weeks. I am thinking about today.”
Fuentes picked up three outs (two strikeouts) in the ninth inning Thursday on 10 pitches to secure the 4-2 win against the Chicago Cubs.
Corpas will slide back into a seventh/eighth-inning role, and was offered no assurances he would close again.
“I am OK. I know that I had two bad days. If they put me in the sixth, seventh or eighth, I need to do my job,” Corpas said.
Corpas blew only two saves last season after supplanting Fuentes as the closer in June. Corpas believes a mechanical glitch is behind his inconsistent velocity — he’s between 89 to 93 mph, not the 95 mph he hit more regularly last season — and a troublesome slider.
“I am throwing more sinkers, so maybe that’s part of the (velocity issue). My slider is spinning sometimes,” Corpas said. “If I throw the perfect one, I get outs.”
If anyone can empathize with a slump, it’s Fuentes. He became a setup man after four straight walk-off losses.
“I found how hard it was to close. Now, I am ready to give it another try,” said Fuentes, who pitched a perfect ninth on Thursday.
“There’s a lot of things going through (Corpas’) mind: doubt, anger, and most importantly you feel like have let your teammates down. But Manny is going to be fine.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
