Bullpen Report: April 5, 2017

There were some ninth-inning adventures on Wednesday, but of the 10 relievers with save chances in the final frame, eight managed to come through.

Then there was Sam Dyson. In last night’s bullpen report, Benjamin Pasinkoff made note of Dyson’s meltdown in the Rangers’ season opener against the Indians, as well as his diminished velocity. Whereas Dyson averaged 93.9 mph on his fastball on Monday, this time around he raised it up to 94.7 mph. However, he lost the strike zone, walking Abraham Almonte and Carlos Santana back-to-back, and throwing strikes on just 10 of his 22 pitches. Francisco Lindor made Dyson pay for the walks, hitting a grand slam that left him with a blown save.

Dyson is already making a good case for being the first closer to lose his job. Matt Bush has pitched the eighth inning in two of the Rangers’ three games, and he would appear to be in line to succeed Dyson when Jeff Banister is ready to make the change.

•Bryan Shaw got the save for the Indians, pitching a perfect bottom of the ninth. We can only presume that Shaw got the call, since Terry Francona went to his Andrew Miller–Cody Allen tandem in both of the Indians’ first two games.

•The other reliever, beside Dyson, to blow a save in the final inning was Chase De Jong, who was making his major league debut for the Mariners. He was called upon to pitch the 13th inning with a 3-2 lead over the Astros, and he was one strike away from notching his first save. Instead, George Springer got ahold a De Jong curveball and launched it for a three-run walk-off homer.

•Reds manager Bryan Price has talked about using a closer committee that includes Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias, with both relievers being candidates for multiple-inning saves. Lorensen entered with a 2-0 lead against the Phillies in the eighth inning, but after holding the lead, he gave way to Iglesias in the ninth. Is Iglesias the Reds’ closer? It’s too early to tell, but every trend has to start with a single data point.

•After not blowing a save in 47 opportunities last season, Zach Britton came dangerously close to blowing his first chance of 2017. He loaded the bases with one out in the top of the ninth, but he was rescued by a Steve Pearce double play ball that preserved the Orioles’ 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. On Monday, Britton pitched two innings against the Jays. He only went two innings in one appearance last season, and he waited three days before making his next appearance.

•Other relievers getting one-inning saves on Wednesday: Blake Treinen versus the Marlins (two hits, one run, two strikeouts), Alex Colome versus the Yankees (two hits, no runs), Fernando Rodney versus the Giants (no hits, no runs, one strikeout) and Kenley Jansen versus the Padres (no hits, no runs, one strikeout).

•>With the Brewers entering the ninth inning against the Rockies with a 6-0 lead, this did not look like the night for Neftali Feliz to get his first save with his new club. However, after Taylor Jungmann yielded an RBI single to Mark Reynolds and then loaded the bases, Feliz got summoned to get the final out. In striking out Charlie Blackmon on five pitches, Feliz recorded the save.

•Six closers pitched in non-save situations: A.J. Ramos, pitching in the bottom of the eighth with a three-run deficit against the Nationals (one hit, no runs, one strikeout); Addison Reed, pitching the top of the ninth in a tie game against the Braves (no hits, no runs, one strikeout); Jim Johnson, pitching the 11th and 12th innings against the Mets and getting the win (one hit, no runs, three strikeouts); Craig Kimbrel, pitching the top of the ninth in a scoreless tie with the Pirates (no hits, no runs); Tony Watson, pitching the bottom of the 10th in the scoreless tie with the Red Sox (two hits, no runs, a walk, a strikeout); and Edwin Diaz, pitching the ninth and 10th innings in a tie game with the Mariners (one hit, no runs, one walk, two strikeouts).

•Christopher Devenski and Alex Wood had standout multiple-inning performances. Devenski entered a tie game in the eighth inning and gave the Astros four no-hit, shutout innings against the Mariners with seven strikeouts and one walk. Wood held the Padres scoreless and hitless for the seventh and eighth innings, getting a strikeout and a walk. Both pitchers could have value in mixed Roto and Head-to-Head leagues on the basis of strong ratios compiled over 100 or more innings. That prospect is a little dicier for Wood, who would need to stay healthy to amass all those innings.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Randall Delgado
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez	Mauricio Cabrera
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Joe Kelly	Matt Barnes	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Wade Davis	Pedro Strop	Koji Uehara
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Dan Jennings
Cincy	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Greg Holland	Adam Ottavino	Mike Dunn
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Bruce Rondon	Justin Wilson
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Matt Strahm
LAA	Cam Bedrosian	Andrew Bailey	J.C. Ramirez	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Sergio Romo	Grant Dayton
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Neftali Feliz	Corey Knebel	Carlos Torres>
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Ryan Pressly	Matt Belisle	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Addison Reed	Fernando Salas	Hansel Robles	Jeurys Familia
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard
Oakland	Ryan Madson	Santiago Casilla	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	Joaquin Benoit
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Daniel Hudson	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand	Carter Capps
SF	Mark Melancon	Hunter Strickland	Derek Law
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Dan Altavilla	Nick Vincent	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Tommy Hunter	Xavier Cedeno	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Sam Dyson	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress
Toronto	Joe Biagini	Jason Grilli	Joe Smith	Roberto Osuna
Wash.	Blake Treinen	Koda Glover	Shawn Kelley

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]