Bullpen Report: August 6, 2015

A go-ahead solo home run off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury in the home half of the seventh-inning provided Andrew Miller an opportunity to convert his 24th save of the season in 24 chances. With the Yankees up 2-1 on their chief rivals, Miller secured the three outs necessary to remain a perfect 24-for-24 in save chances this season. The lefty surrendered a free pass along with a single, but escaped unscathed in a 17-pitch effort to seal the deal. In 37 frames this season, Miller is 0-2 with 24 saves, a 1.46 ERA (2.55 FIP) and a 28.4% K-BB%. Entering tonight, Miller’s owned career bests in swinging strike rate (17.4% SwStr%), nailing the first-pitch strike (66.4% F-Strike%), limiting contact on pitches both in (76.3% Z-Contact%) and out (35% O-Contact%) of the zone as well as inducing swings on pitches outside of the zone (33.2% O-Swing%).

Zack Greinke got tagged for a six-pack of runs — five in the first inning — against the Phillies today, but the Dodgers’ bats kept the right-hander in the game leading to a Kenley Jansen save opportunity in the ninth. But Jansen came on in relief of Joel Peralta, who yielded a pair of singles with the Dodgers up four runs before giving way to the closer. Jansen then surrendered a double to Maikel Franco — allowing both of Peralta’s runners to score — followed by a single to Ryan Howard before inducing a game-ending double play. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but Jansen picked up his 21st save of the year in 22 chances and owns a 2.86 ERA (2.39 FIP) in 28.1 innings. The successful save conversion pushed Greinke to an 11-2 record on the year.

Arodys Vizcaino notched his first save of the season — and his career — in a 9-8 Braves victory over the Marlins. He allowed a single and is guilty of throwing a wild pitch, but eventually closed out the Marlins in a 20-pitch effort. Vizcaino took over the closer’s role for Atlanta when they shipped off Jim Johnson to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. The 24-year-old right-hander is available in more than 60% of Yahoo! leagues at the time of this writing.

Quick Hitters: Another day, another save for Cardinals’ closer Trevor Rosenthal. He did allow an infield hit along with a free pass, but escaped with his 32nd successful conversion on the year. Hector Rondon fanned one in a 12-pitch outing to secure his 17th save of the season in a 5-4 Cubs win over the Giants. Alex Wilson yielded a hit and two walks in the top of the ninth of a tie game, but failed to allow any Royals to cross the plate. Wilson was rewarded with his second win of the season (now 2-3) thanks to an Ian Kinsler walk off home run in the home half of the ninth-inning. Bruce Rondon appeared in the eighth and fanned two in a clean inning of work.

Closer Grid:

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