Bullpen Report: April 27, 2018

For the third time in the last four games, Greg Holland pitched the ninth inning for the Cardinals. The last two times, it was in a tie game with the Cardinals as the home team. When Holland was brought in to face the Mets on Tuesday, incumbent closer Bud Norris was unavailable, but that was not the case in the series finale on Thursday afternoon. Norris pitched the eighth inning, and curiously enough, he did it with the Cardinals trailing by a run. Tommy Pham tied the game up with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, and then it was Holland’s turn to keep the Mets off the board in the top of the ninth. All he yielded was a leadoff single by Michael Conforto.

In doing so, Holland extended his string of consecutive scoreless performances to four, covering a span of four innings. Mike Matheny likes what he’s seen, telling MLB.com, “You’re seeing the [bad] swings, and that was the indicator we were looking for.” As in the indicator that he is ready to take the closer’s job back from Norris? There is no specific indicator that this is the case, other than a recent usage pattern that is consistent with that of a closer.

It appears to be only a matter of time before Holland is back to being the Cardinals’ official closer, so if he available in your league, now is the time to pick him up. There’s a decent chance he is there for the taking; Holland is owned in only 56 percent of ESPN leagues, 63 percent of Yahoo leagues and 74 percent of CBS leagues.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Luke Gregerson walked in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning, and that put the game in the hands of Jeurys Familia in the bottom of the frame. A week-and-a-half ago, Familia was on a run of seven straight converted save opportunities, but he has stumbled recently, blowing two of  his four most recent save chances heading into Thursday. In the series finale against the Cardinals, the Mets’ closer did not struggle with control, as he has done at times this season, but he allowed a ground ball single to Tommy Pham, followed by an RBI double to Jose Martinez. Familia has been more prone to allowing flyballs this season (31.3 percent rate, as compared to 19.1 percent each of the previous two seasons), and Martinez’s double came off a fly that had an exit velocity of 96.3 mph, per Baseball Savant. The Cardinals ultimately prevailed, 4-3, in 13 innings, and Familia was left with his third blown save in his last five tries.

Despite his recent struggles, Familia does not appear to be in danger of ceding the closer’s role to A.J. Ramos or any other reliever, even on a temporary basis. MLB.com reported that Familia is dealing with a family issue, though he traveled with the team to San Diego for their upcoming weekend series.

Fernando Rodney did not retire a batter in his first appearance in six days, as the inning began with a Miguel Sano throwing error and ended with Gary Sanchez’s walk-off three-run homer. Even though Rodney has now blown three straight save opportunities, Paul Molitor says he will not be making a change at closer. To be fair, Rodney had not allowed an extra-base hit since opening day, and he has been locating his pitches in the strike zone at a 48.8 percent rate. However, his contact rate has shot up from 70.7 percent last season to 80.0 percent so far this year.

Quick hits: One day after A.J. Minter recorded his first career save, Arodys Vizcaino got back in the save column with a scoreless inning against the Reds. As Benjamin Pasinkoff noted in Thursday’s Bullpen Report, Minter and Vizcaino are primed to share closing duties for the Braves…Alex Colome worked around a pair of two-out singles to pitch a scoreless ninth inning against the Orioles. The Rays had a four-run lead, so Colome did not earn a save, but he has put together his first stretch of three consecutive scoreless outings of the season. The two singles are the only baserunners Colome has allowed during this span…The Indians placed Andrew Miller on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain. Terry Francona told MLB.com that Miller would not have been put on the DL if it were still a 15-day minimum stay, so the lefty is expected to return when eligible or shortly thereafter.