After giving up three runs to the Cubs on April 21, birds of concern were circling around Mark Melancon. He came in with a two-run lead against the Phillies on Monday, and proceeded to give up a home run, a trio of sharp liners and a fly ball to centre, and he walked away with his eighth save of the year. His velocity still isn’t where it was, but is it that big of a deal? He’s pretty much scrapped his four-seamer, going with it 3.9% of the time in 2015, down from 27.3% last year. That’s been replaced with increased usage of the cutter, as he’s throwing it 69.6% of the time. That home run he gave up Monday was the first earned run he’d put up since that April 21 debacle, throwing eight scoreless innings to lower his ERA from 8.53 to 3.77. The lack of strikeouts are a cause for concern, and his 8.9% K%-BB% is well off his 25.6% and 25.1% of the past two seasons, but as long as he keeps getting plays made behind him, he’ll be closing games in Pittsburgh. And also in other cities that the Pirates play in.

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The Rangers bullpen kept their order intact today, as they closed out the Rays 2-1. Not a lot has been written about the Texas pen, probably because it’s the Texas pen, but their moms deserve to hear some love sprinkled on their sons. First, Keone Kela struck out two in the seventh, and he got the W when the Rangers scored a run in the top of the eighth. Don’t be fooled by his 1.93 ERA. That’s helped by an 84.3% LOB rate. His 4.18 xFIP is kind of gross, and his 10.3% K%-BB% is definitely gross. He is the Rangers seventh inning guy, and if something happens to these next two guys, he’s probably next in line. Shawn Tolleson got his fifth hold of the year. One reason that number is so low, is because he’s on the Rangers, and they haven’t provided him with a ton of opportunities. He’s the opposite of Kela. Don’t be fooled by his 4.85 ERA. It’s inflated by a 58.8% LOB rate. His xFIP of 2.10 shows signs of promise, and his 31.3% K%-BB% is downright lovely. Neftali Feliz worked around a couple of hits and got his sixth save of the year.

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Well, it looks like the clouds have lifted on the unsettled closer situation in the Bronx. Joe Girardi finally named Andrew Miller as the official closer of the New York Yankees. This was in the wake of the two-headed Yankee bullpen monster shutting down the Orioles. Dellin Betances came in and retired four Orioles before handing the ball over to Miller in the ninth. Unconfirmed reports have Girardi telling Miller before the game that he could be the official closer if he can go a whole inning without throwing a ball. Miller obliged. He did get a couple of chases out of the zone with the fastball. They aren’t really missing David Robertson. If you want to see pure domination, go back and watch pretty much any Betances or Miller appearance this year.

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Jordan Walden was placed on the 15 DL by the Cardinals on Sunday morning. He’d pitched only once in the past nine games. Sam Tuivailala has been recalled from Memphis to fill the hole in the pen. He’s had a WHIP of 1.00 and struck out 12 in nine innings as the closer for the Redbirds. I don’t think it makes a big pile of sense to run out and grab him, because Tyler Lyons will be activated on Tuesday, and Tuivailala is likely going back to Memphis to make that happen. Seth Maness and Matt Belisle will likely be leaned on a little more to help set up Trevor Rosenthal, with Kevin Siegrist spotting in against lefties, like he did today coming in for Belisle to face Pedro Alvarez with two outs in the eighth. Rosenthal had pitched on Friday and Saturday and in three of the last four, so there was zero chance of him coming in for a four-out save after Siegrist walked Alvarez to bring up Jordy Mercer. With Mitch Harris warming in the pen, and Tuivailala sitting on a bench, Siegrist fanned Mercer. The Cards are in the midst of a stretch of 20 straight days with no off days, and the pen is going to need all hands on deck. The 14 inning game may necessitate another move tomorrow to get a fresh arm in the Cards pen. Tuivailala pitched two innings and Rosenthal pitched his third day in a row(giving up a homer to Jung-Ho Kang in the process). You would have to think that neither of them would be available Monday.

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Brad Boxberger struck out the side and collected his sixth save on the season for the Rays. He did it in a rather interesting fashion, with eight of his nineteen pitches being curveballs. According to Brooks Baseball, he’s only thrown the curve 3.33% of the time this season. He only threw the change once on Friday, after having used it over 40% of the time up to this point. Three weapons for Boxberger just isn’t fair.

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What an uneventful day for bullpens. Like zero things changed. Tony Cingrani pitched two frames for the Reds, his first action in forever. I can see him pitching the seventh for the Reds in the near future. Hector Rondon garnered his fourth save for the Cubs, following Pedro Strop and his sore foot.

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The Braves committed all of the errors possible on Friday, and Jim Johnson continued his run of ruin, taking his second loss on the year. He made it through his first five outings without surrendering a single run, but he’s given up at least one earned in each of his last four outings. There are no huge losses in velocity or movement, but this is just getting ugly. Jason Grilli hasn’t had a save opportunity since last Sunday, and curiously, he hasn’t seen the field since then. Fredi Gonzalez had an opportunity to live up to what he alluded to last weekend when he said that he wouldn’t hesitate to use Grilli in tied games on the road. Instead, he went with Johnson. Ken Giles kept his ERA at 0.00 when he pitched a scoreless ninth and picked up the win for the Phillies.

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After watching Sugar Ray Marimon give up a game-winning home run to Josh Donaldson Saturday, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez hinted that he’d lean towards using Jason Grilli in tie games on the road, instead of waiting to protect a lead that may never materialize. We didn’t get a chance to see that in action today, but Grilli did notch his sixth save. Cody Martin got the nod over a suddenly struggling Jim Johnson to set up Grilli. It would have been Johnson’s third appearance in three days, so maybe there’s nothing to read into here, but giving up two earned on both Friday and Saturday doesn’t garner much confidence. Interestingly, he had identical lines both nights, Friday he earned a hold, Saturday a blown save. Maybe monitor this early in the week, and see what Gonzalez does with his pen if you’re holding Johnson.

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Brian Schlitter entered in the seventh and proceeded to strike out Wil Myers on three pitches, culminating with a beautiful two-seamer diving at the knees to freeze Myers and end the inning. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Sam Holbrook didn’t share the assessment of the 32,138 people who had way worse seats than him, and he called the salvo a ball. After fist pumps from Welington Castillo and a belated one from Schlitter, they realized they had one more pitch to throw. It was a thigh-high offering that Myers deposited over the ivy in center field, giving the Padres a lead that Dale Thayer, Joaquin Benoit, and Craig Kimbrel weren’t going to relinquish.

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Jumbo Diaz garnered a blown save in Cincinnati, giving up a bomb to Jhonny Peralta in the eighth. Don’t be shocked if J.J. Hoover gets the nod over him in the near future. Aroldis Chapman didn’t strike out a single Cardinal in his inning of work, so sound some kind of alarm.

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