Bullpen Report: April 23, 2018

Brandon Morrow is now a perfect 4 for 4 in save chances, but his most recent save was far from perfect. In Sunday’s series finale against the Rockies, Morrow allowed a pair of singles to Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story and then loaded the bases with a two-out walk to David Dahl. With Ian Desmond at the plate, Morrow uncorked a wild pitch that initially appeared to allow the Rockies to slice the Cubs’ two-run lead in half. Arenado had been called safe on a close play at the plate, but he was called out on review.

Prior to Sunday’s messy save, Morrow’s season had featured little drama, but the good overall results have masked a dramatic change from his stellar 2017 campaign. His breakout as a reliever with the Dodgers was fueled by a 15.9 percent swinging strike rate, but so far this season, that mark has plunged to 8.3 percent. Morrow’s overall swing rate has also taken a dive, falling from 57.2 percent last season to 44.2 percent this season, and it’s understandable that hitters have been more reluctant to offer at his pitches. Morrow has been giving hitters fewer good pitches to hit, locating less often in the heart of the strike zone. Here’s Morrow’s heatmap from 2017.

And here’s where Morrow has been locating his pitches so far in 2018.

On Sunday, Morrow was particularly averse to pitching in the center of the zone, and when he was missing the zone against Story, the Rockies’ shortstop only bothered to swing at one pitch (the only one he saw that was in the zone). That set the stage for Story to walk and load the bases, and for Arenado to potentially score on a wild pitch.

Morrow’s proclivity to hang around the edges of the zone could be a more consistent hazard, especially if his command falters and batters continue to avoid swinging. It’s not a bad idea to pick up Carl Edwards Jr. just for the strikeouts (46.5 percent K-rate, 21.1 percent swinging strike rate) and ratios, but down the line, he might get entrusted with some save opportunities as well.

When the Diamondbacks entered the ninth inning of Sunday’s game against the Padres with a two-run lead, it was not Brad Boxberger who came out to get the save. Instead, Archie Bradley, who got the final out in the eighth inning, remained in the game. A Christian Villanueva double prevented Bradley from pitching a clean inning, but it didn’t keep him from recording his second save of the season. Boxberger was just two days removed from appearing in three straight games —  a stretched that produced two losses and only two swinging strikes on 52 pitches.

There have no reports of a change at closer for the Diamondbacks, and beat writer Nick Piecoro surmised that Boxberger was just getting a second day off. If that’s the case, then it would appear that Torey Lovullo is not inclined to use Yoshihisa Hirano as the backup closer, much less as the primary closer. Lovullo brought Hirano in to pitch the seventh inning with the Diamondbacks’ 4-2 lead already established.

Quick hits: One day after Craig Counsell used Josh Hader in the seventh inning with a one-run deficit, he brought the lefty in to nail down a two-inning save against the Marlins. Counsell has shown no signs of moving away from a committee approach…The Orioles also appear to be committed to their closer tandem of Brad Brach and Darren O’Day. Neither reliever has been consistent, but if there’s momentum in this situation, it belongs to O’Day, who was credited with the Orioles’ most recent save on Friday. Meanwhile, Brach allowed three runs to the Indians on Sunday in a non-save situation…Kenley Jansen overcame singles from Matt Adams and Wilmer Difo to notch his third save of the season on Sunday night. For the second game in a row, Jansen averaged more than 94 mph on his cutter (per Brooks Baseball)…Kevin Jepsen set up Keone Kela’s third save on Sunday, pitching a perfect eighth inning against the Rangers. However, Chris Martin and Alex Claudio were likely unavailable, as each had pitched on three of the previous four days.