Bullpen Report: August 25, 2018

Although nothing’s set in stone, the first Yankees save opportunity went to Zach Britton, in his former ballpark, and he converted it despite ceding a home run to Chris Davis. It’s Britton’s first save with New York and snaps a three game scoreless streak. However, Britton seems to be turning a corner with the Yankees not walking a batter his last five appearances and getting the ball down in the strike zone which yields success for the veteran closer. This will be important since Aroldis Chapman received a platelet-rich plasma injection and will miss the next two weeks as a result. The team hinted a triumvirate could be deployed in late innings so high leverage could evolve. Dellin Betances recorded his 32nd consecutive outing with at least a strikeout in the eighth inning. Over his last 33 games, Betances has a 0.56 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 32.1 innings. Chad Green garners the win in relief striking out two in the ninth and David Robertson pitched in the seventh, for the first time in a week, giving up a two-run home run to Jonathan Villar. Use last night as a template with Betances in the eighth and Britton in the ninth until further notice.

It seems like the Indians would prefer Cody Allen to succeed in the ninth, but he blew his fifth save of the season serving up back-to-back home runs to Ryan O’Hearn and Hunter Dozier in the ninth en route to his fifth loss of the year. Allen’s allowed runs in three straight outings working two innings with four earned runs, two walks and one strikeout in them. He whittled down his ERA to 3.98 on August 17th but it’s ebbed back to 4.50 as a result of the last three games. Brad Hand notched his ninth hold walking one in the eighth inning. Hand’s been scoreless his last seven outings with 10 strikeouts in 7.1 innings and scoreless in 12 of his 14 appearances with Cleveland. With five saves and six holds since joining the team, it’s likely Hand gets the next save chance. Especially with Andrew Miller starting to look like his old self registering his third straight scoreless outing last night with a strikeout.

Fluidity seems to be the word to describe the Brewers bullpen. With deposed closer Corey Knebel in Triple-A until September, a timeshare between Jeremy Jeffress and Josh Hader continues. Jeffress did suffer his fifth blown save, and first since July fourth, giving up two hits, an earned run and a walk with two strikeouts. He’s allowed a run in two of his last four games but has two saves and two holds over his last six appearances. A strong return by Joakim Soria, striking out the side, could thrust him into high leverage soon as well. Josh Hader did give up a run during his two inning outing with two strikeouts. Hader’s struck out 111 in 63.1 innings and has saved two with two holds his last four contests.

Miami activated Kyle Barraclough off the disabled list but will work him back into high leverage going forward. He did not pitch on Friday night as the Marlins played match-ups in the late innings. Drew Steckenrider pitched the eighth inning against Dansby Swanson, Charlie Culberson and Ronald Acuna Jr. with two strikeouts for his 19th hold. Then, Adam Conley recorded his second save, and first since July 20th at Tampa Bay, with a clean ninth in order to face both Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis. In what seems to be a recent trend, could the Marlins be the next high leverage match-up based bullpen? More potential headaches for the saves chasers could be on tap.

St. Louis remained hot winning in Colorado and Bud Norris secured his 27th save in spite of walking one and giving up a hit. Norris has recorded a save in each of his last five appearances, been scoreless in them and he’s only given up runs in one of his last 14 games going 9-for-10 in save chances in them. Jordan Hicks worked around two walks and a hit for a scoreless eighth for his 19th hold. Hicks could be tiring. He’s allowed seven walks in August resulting in a 1.59 WHIP but produced five holds and three saves this month. Carlos Martinez gets his seventh win striking out three in a clean 1.2 inning appearance. If Martinez can adjust to being a reliever, he could ascend to the eighth inning going forward. Stay tuned.

Quick Hits: Pedro Strop suffered his first blown save since July 21st allowing a home run to Eugenio Suarez in the ninth inning. Strop has eight saves in the second half and converted seven in his last 10 outings, so not much to worry about here.

Raisel Iglesias takes the loss on Friday giving up a walk-off home run to David Bote. Iglesias only recorded one out prior to Bote’s at-bat. This marks the first run allowed by Iglesias in eight games and snaps his streak of eight straight saves.

Toronto’s Ken Giles notched his 17th save of the year yielding a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. He’s converted 17 saves this year without blowing one and his last 21 dating back to last September.

Keep an eye on Hector Neris in Philadelphia. He entered yesterday’s game with two runners on and struck out the side to get out of the inning. Since his recall, Neris has recorded seven scoreless outings in 5.2 innings allowing only two hits and a walk with 12 strikeouts of his 20 batters faced.

As the White Sox bullpen spins could be a soap opera. Jace Fry gets his 13th hold giving up two hits with two strikeouts. He retired the first batter in the ninth then gave way to Juan Minaya. Minaya struck out one batter during his two-thirds of an inning, but will not receive credit for the save due to the score. He’s been scoreless his last four games with no walks and six strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Look for he and Fry to share time based on match-ups going forward.

Tough night to own a Tigers reliever. Joe Jimenez only recorded one out and allowed three hits, four earned runs and a walk with a strikeout. He’s given up runs in two of his last three and in four of his last seven appearances resulting in nine earned runs in only seven innings this month. Shane Greene also struggled not getting an out but yielding three hits and two earned runs.

Robert Gsellman secured his eighth save ceding a hit with two strikeouts. He extends his scoreless streak to 10 games (11.2 innings) and has three holds with three saves during it.

A non-save outing for Felipe Vazquez working two innings allowing two hits and striking out two. Vazquez has converted 17 straight saves and own a 0.68 ERA his last 26 games with 42 strikeouts in 26.1 innings.

Benefiting from the Royals walk-off win, Wily Peralta gets his first win in relief this year. Peralta’s been pitching well in August with seven of his eight outings being scoreless, a WHIP below one (0.82) and only two walks allowed with seven strikeouts in them.

Save number 49 for Edwin Diaz, a Mariners record, in a clean ninth with a strikeout. Diaz has 108 strikeouts in 63 innings and a robust 45.8 strikeout percentage this year.

Will Smith suffered his third blown save giving up two unearned runs last night. An error by Joe Panik turned the tide with Smith serving up a home run to Rougned Odor in the next at-bat with two outs. Smith has all 11 saves since Hunter Strickland’s injury and remains secure in the role not allowing an earned run his last six outings with eight strikeouts in them.

Jose LeClerc continues to thrive for Texas. He notched his seventh save striking out two in a clean ninth. LeClerc’s recorded 12 straight scoreless appearances and only yielded two hits over his last 10 games with three walks and 19 strikeouts.