Bullpen Report: August 17, 2018

A few closers took steps toward making fantasy owners more comfortable on Thursday night, but some of the bigger bullpen developments took place before the ninth inning. Still, saves are what we care the most about in fantasy, so let’s start there. Wade Davis had his third consecutive scoreless outing, and in allowing nothing more than a Freddie Freeman single, he preserved the Rockies’ 5-3 lead against the Braves. This was his first save since giving up a pair of homers and taking a loss against the Dodgers exactly one week earlier. Like Davis, Jose Leclerc worked around a leadoff hit to notch a save, as he closed out the Rangers’ 8-6 win over the Angels.

The most notable save, though, was Koda Glover’s against the Cardinals, as it was his first save opportunity since being named as the Nationals’ closer in the wake of Ryan Madson (back) going on the DL. Glover raised the degree of difficulty on his inning by allowing a two-out Jose Martinez single and then walking Matt Carpenter, which put the tying run in scoring position. The drama was short-lived, as Yadier Molina flied out on the first pitch he saw from Glover.

It is still too early to tell how reliable of a closer Glover will be, but the Nationals probably don’t have better options. Though Justin Miller set Glover up with two scoreless innings, he has been inconsistent. Miller was dominant through his first eight appearances this season, but since then, he has compiled a 5.20 ERA and 1.41 WHIP with a pedestrian 22.7 percent strikeout rate. Hitters have been emboldened to swing at his pitches in the strike zone at a 78.2 percent rate over this 27.2-inning span. If that were his Z-Swing% over the whole season, he would rank second in the majors among qualifying relievers, trailing only Chasen Bradford. That’s not necessarily a bad trend if he can maintain a low contact rate on pitches in the zone, but his 80.3 percent Z-Contact% over the same period is merely good, but not great. Over the last two months, Miller has built a similar profile to that of Emilio Pagan, but with more walks. It’s not terrible, but also not ideal for a late-inning reliever.

Because A.J. Minter had pitched on three of the previous four days, Brad Brach got his first save chance as a Brave. He gave up three runs against the Rockies, but all were unearned. He has pitched well since getting traded from the Orioles and probably did deserve a better fate on Thursday night. Brach’s inning began with a ground ball from Trevor Story that Dansby Swanson bobbled and on which he made a rushed, poor throw. Then Brach walked Gerardo Parra, advancing Story to second base, which later allowed him to score the tying run on a Ryan McMahon single. McMahon’s sharp grounder had a hit probability of 30 percent (per Baseball Savant). Brach was removed after giving up David Dahl’s two-out, two-RBI single.

Despite taking a blown save and a loss in this outing, Brach is re-emerging as a viable option in holds leagues. He has yet to allow an earned run 7.2 innings with the Braves, and he is continuing to enjoy a velocity spike that began in early July, nearly a month before he arrived in Atlanta.

For a while, it appeared that Justin Anderson might have been in line to split saves with Blake Parker, but the latter reliever has successfully converted the Angels’ last two save opportunities. On Thursday night, Anderson was working the eighth inning against the Rangers with a 6-4 lead, presumably setting up for Parker. While Anderson had been on a nice run, giving up one run and no extra base hits over his previous 14.2 innings, he had walked six batters and located only 33.6 percent of his pitches in the strike zone. Control was an issue for Anderson against the Rangers, as began the inning by walking Nomar Mazara on four pitches and hitting Jurickson Profar. After allowing a Joey Gallo double, Anderson tallied a couple of strikeouts but sandwiched them with a pair of walks, the latter of which brought in the tying run.

Osmer Morales, making his major league debut, was called in to rescue Anderson. Instead, he gave up Rougned Odor’s go-ahead single and then threw a wild pitch that brought in an insurance run.

If Anderson’s control issues continue to get exposed, Ty Buttrey may have an opening to supplant him in the Angels’ pecking order. Buttrey also made his major league debut on Thursday night, pitching the seventh inning and allowing only a Shin-Soo Choo double. The Angels acquired Buttrey from the Red Sox in the Ian Kinsler deal, and while he induced only one swinging strike in his first 15 major league pitches, he averaged 96.0 mph on the eight fastballs he threw.

Quick hits: Adam Kolarek got his first major league save on Thursday, bailing out Sergio Romo, who began the ninth inning against the Yankees by loading the bases with two singles and a walk. Kolarek defused the threat by inducing a Greg Bird popup and striking out Brett Gardner and Austin Romine…Yacksel Rios began the ninth inning of the second game of the Phillies’ doubleheader with the Mets, but he turned a 9-4 lead into a save situation for Seranthony Dominguez. The Phillies’ closer came in with one out, runners on first and second, and a four-run lead. A Wilmer Flores single cut the lead to three runs, but Dominguez struck out Austin Jackson and Jose Bautista to finish out the game…Pedro Strop pitched a scoreless ninth inning against the Pirates to save the Cubs’ 1-0 win. He now has all eight of the Cubs’ saves since Brandon Morrow (biceps) was placed on the DL…Matt Moore pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts against the Angels and was credited with the win. Over his last three outings, he has eight strikeouts in seven innings, and all he has allowed is a Neil Walker home run, two singles and a walk.