Bullpen Report: April 10, 2015
Two runs in the top of the ninth kept the Astros from getting a hold, hold, save out of off-season acquisitions Pat Neshek, Chad Qualls and Luke Gregerson. The pair the Astros scored in the top of the ninth erased the save opportunity for Gregerson.
Jonathan Papelbon threw nine of his ten pitches for strikes while recording his second save of the young season. After his Edward James Olmos ugly, three walk Wednesday night outing, Ken Giles bounced back results-wise tonight, recording two strikeouts as he garnered a hold in a solid inning. His fastball is down about 2.5 mph from his 2014 average of 98. With his slider losing about 0.5 mph so far, the velo gap between that and the heater is narrowing. 96 is still plenty of velocity, but keep an eye on this, as maybe he’s just building up arm strength and will be back to 98+ in short order.
On Chicago’s south side, many fantasy owners benefitted from Brian Duensing’s first save of the season that he procured during the Twins 6-0 victory over the White Sox. Or they didn’t. He came in to pitch the eighth, and when the Twins put up three in their half of the ninth, Paul Molitor left him out there to close out the game. Sox setup man Zach Putnam surrendered a couple of earned runs in his make-work inning.
In another fun affair in Cincinnati, J.J. Hoover whiffed three in his 1.3 innings of work and picked up his second win of the week. He’s still behind Jumbo Diaz andTony Cingrani in the pecking order for now, but any stumble by Diaz, and Hoover can be looked upon to fill that void. Aroldis Chapman fanned two to pick up his second save.
The Tampa Bay and Miami bullpens took turns being not awesome during a 10-9 Marlins extra-inning victory. A.J Ramos helped give up the seventh run of the seventh inning to earn a blown save. Steve Cishek was unable to protect the one-run lead he was handed in the ninth, and Brad Boxberger gave up a double to Dee Gordon and a walk-off single to Paul Sporer’s doppelganger Christian Yelich to get saddled with the loss. He’s still awesome though.
The 4-0 Atlanta Braves lowered their magic number again on Friday, and the bullpen was a huge part of that. They’ve combined for 22 strikeouts in their 15 scoreless innings thus far in 2015. Jim Johnson struck out three in his inning of work to pick up the win, and Jason Grilli notched his third save. Don’t sleep on Luis Avilan as a cheap source of holds. He’s got the disgusting arm-side run back on his fastball. If your league gives points for breaking bats, you need to pick him up right now.
Of note in this one, Rafael Montero vacillated between dominant and strike-averse, striking out three in his inning of work, but also needing 39 pitches to record those three outs. Of those 39 pitches, 39 of them were fastballs. I don’t know why he eschewed the secondaries tonight, but maybe be a bit skittish on him. He was at 94, so velo isn’t an issue, but having zero confidence in anything other than the heater could be a red flag.
Joel Peralta pitched the ninth inning of a tie game on the road tonight, striking out two, and looking strong. With the save he got the other night, there’s a chance he’s inching towards that interim closer role. You rarely see the closer pitch in that spot, so this is a fluid situation. Bear in mind that Donnie Baseball likes guys who have done it before. If Mattingly has said that he’s going with Peralta, I can’t find it. It doesn’t’ mean he hasn’t said it though.
Yimi Garcia had an interesting outing. One that was definitely fun to watch. He faced seven Diamondbacks, striking out four of them. All four were on three pitches. The only hiccup was an eight-pitch encounter with Paul Goldschmidt that resulted in a single. He worked 94 with the fastball, offset with the 84 curve for a nice gap.
Wade Davis got the save for the Royals tonight in Anaheim. Settle down. It’s only because Greg Holland had saves in each of the past two days and he was made unavailable tonight. What a luxury to sit down a stud closer and be able to plop Holland and Kelvin Herrera on the hill. It was a TTO night for Davis, as he had three strikeouts and a walk.
Joaquin Benoit snared a win for the Padres after pitching a scoreless eighth, and Craig Kimbrel got the save. Kimbrel had zero strikeouts, so you should probably drop him, especially if you’re in a league with me. He employed his insane knuckle curve to induce a game-ending double play.
Dellin Betances pitched a little over an inning and struck out two, but his fastball is still coming in a couple ticks below what we saw from him in 2014. And I’m not worried one tiny little bit. If you have league-mates who are looking to sell, you need to buy. Andrew Miller dominated for an inning, and nothing is changing in the order there. Fun note: Chasen Shreve struck out four in three innings.
Interim Boston closer Edward Mujica blew this one in the ninth, which is why we still get to watch this game well past our bedtimes. Koji Uehara was sent out for a rehab assignment today, and is in line to get the save in the 74th inning of this one on Sunday. Yes, by the time you read this the game is over, but right now they’re in the 19th and will seemingly play forever.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
Darren contributes to RotoGraphs when he isn’t watching the Braves or shoveling snow. Follow him on Twitter @shinesie.
Just an FYI — Chicago’s north side is where the Cubs play. The Sox are on the south side.