Bullpen Report: April 7, 2017

• The only blown save by a closer in Friday’s games was by Francisco Rodriguez, and his occurred in the eighth inning. Rodriguez entered the game with the Tigers clinging on to a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth with runners on first and third. Pablo Sandoval took Rodriguez’s 0-2 offering over the wall in left center field, giving the Red Sox a 5-4 lead. But all was eventually well for the Tigers, who got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth, followed by a scoreless ninth. Rodriguez made things interesting in that inning, too, allowing a Dustin Pedroia single and a Mitch Moreland double, but he stranded them and got the win.

• The greater intrigue was actually in the Red Sox’s bullpen — specifically, in the way John Farrell managed the eighth inning. He brought Heath Hembree in to start the inning — the second time in three games that Farrell used Hembree in the eighth — and then yanked him after he followed up a pair of strikeouts with back-to-back walks. Rather than bring in Craig Kimbrel for a four-out save, he summoned lefty Robby Scott, who gave up the game-tying RBI double to righty pinch-hitter Mikie Mahtook. Then Joe Kelly came in and walked James McCann and JaCoby Jones, forcing in the winning run. Farrell explained his decisions to MassLive.com, saying, “There will be a time in this season where you look to go to Kimbrel for four outs, but not in Game 3.”

• The messiest save of the night belonged to Blake Treinen, who gave up a Freddy Galvis two-run homer that brought the Phillies within one run of the Nationals. Treinen held on to notch his third save in four tries, but he has now allowed three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.

• When Bryan Price brought Raisel Iglesias in for the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead against the Cardinals, it felt like a big moment in understanding the Reds’ closer situation. If Iglesias gave way to Drew Storen in the ninth (Michael Lorenzen had already pitched in the seventh), it would have been consecutive save chances for Storen. But instead of solidifying Storen’s position as closer, Price kept Iglesias in for the ninth inning, sticking to his assertion that he would use the former starter for multiple-inning saves. Iglesias made good on the opportunity, pitching two scoreless innings, but because he will need rest between these multiple-inning appearances, it could be awhile before we see one reliever take sole possession of the closer’s role, if we see it at all this season.

• We also saw a couple of set-up performances that lasted more than an inning. Tyler Duffey tossed two scoreless innings (2 H, 0 BB, 3 K) against the White Sox before yielding to Brandon Kintzler in the ninth. Given that Taylor Rogers and Matt Belisle had been used for the seventh and eighth innings on Thursday, we can safely assume that Duffey was making a cameo appearance in the late innings in order to give the usual set-up relievers some rest. Danny Farquhar pitched the seventh inning for the Rays and then came back for the first two outs of the eighth, muddying an already unclear late-inning pecking order. The last time Alex Colome had a save opportunity (on Wednesday), Kevin Cash brought in Erasmo Ramirez to pitch the seventh and eighth innings. It would appear that both Farquhar and Ramirez are a part of the set-up situation in Tampa Bay, while Tommy Hunter, who has made two appearances when the team was trailing, is not.

• Colome was one of four relievers to earn a save with a perfect performance. He got one strikeout in his 1 1/3 spotless innings. Jake McGee, Brandon Maurer and Zach Britton all pitched perfect ninth innings. That’s right, Jake McGee. While Greg Holland, Adam Ottavino and Mike Dunn all took a break after pitching in three of the first four games, McGee struck out the side in sealing the Rockies’ 2-1 win over the Dodgers. If Tony Watson hadn’t started off his ninth inning by hitting Kurt Suzuki with a pitch, he could have joined the perfect inning club as well.

• Kelvin Herrera and Jeanmar Gomez also pitched perfect ninth innings, albeit in non-save situations. Gomez’s performance was notable in that he got Bryce Harper to strike out and Daniel Murphy to pop out. That was a much better showing against a couple of lefties than when we last saw Gomez, when he gave up a two-run homer to Scooter Gennett. Neftali Feliz was called to get the last out in the ninth, as he preserved a 1-1 tie with the Cubs going into the bottom of the inning.

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	Heath Hembree	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	Matt Belisle	Ryan Pressly	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	Danny Farquhar	Erasmo Ramirez	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Sam Dyson	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress
Toronto	Jason Grilli	Joe Biagini	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.]