Don’t you hate it when everyone knows that the starter should be pulled but the manager? Yup, me too. I know it’s hindsight speaking, but I think there’s a difference between those situations where you can see the manager’s point of view, and the situation today.
Today wasn’t like the 6-run second inning in Lowe’s last game, where you could make an argument that errors were costing him, and the bullpen needed to be preserved. Here he had thrown 100+ pitches and was allowing baserunners at a good clip - even though he’d got out of jams earlier, how much longer could he have lasted anyway?