Bullpen Report: June 15, 2018

For the second time in less than 24 hours, the Marlins helped themselves with a sacrifice fly off Hunter Strickland. On Wednesday night, it was Brian Anderson’s deep fly to center field that brought in Miguel Rojas to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Then on Thursday, Strickland was brought in with a one-run lead in the ninth inning. Three batters into the frame, he engaged in a nine-pitch battle with Lewis Brinson that concluded with a flyball to the warning track. That drive scored Starlin Castro and tied the game up. In fairness to Strickland, Castro had reached on a Joe Panik error, and the night before, he had inherited two runners from Reyes Moronta.

With Mark Melancon back, it may seem like Strickland has less margin for error, but the Giants’ former closer is far from the most immediate threat to the incumbent’s job security. Tony Watson has been spectacular lately, not allowing a run over his last 8.1 innings while striking out 13 batters and yielding only a single and a walk. Sam Dyson stumbled a bit in the Marlins series, allowing three runs (two earned) in 1.1 innings, but prior to that, he had allowed one run over a 13.1-inning span with 17 strikeouts and four walks.

Then there is Strickland himself. He, too, appeared to be on a roll prior to the series in Miami, allowing only two earned runs (three total) over his prior 13.1 innings, but he walked seven batters over that span. Strickland no longer pounds the strike zone consistently like he did in his first two full seasons in the majors, and as someone who is not excelling at inducing chases (27.6 percent O-Swing% this season), that makes him potentially vulnerable. There is no urgency as of now to speculate on a potential successor, so that gives us more time to see how Watson, Dyson and Melancon perform in the coming days and weeks.

When Archie Bradley gave up Amed Rosario’s solo homer in the eighth inning of Thursday night’s game against the Mets, he ended a run of 8.1 scoreless innings. However, he induced swings and misses on only 8.3 percent of his pitches during the streak. In fact, his difficulties with getting whiffs goes back to May 1, as he owns a paltry 6.1 percent swinging strike rate since then. Not surprisingly, his strikeout rate has suffered, as he has posted a 16.9 percent rate over that period.

Bradley has been steadily losing ownership in CBS leagues over the last month-and-a-half, and that’s a good indicator of how he has lost appeal generally in deeper formats. He is still owned 35 percent of CBS leagues, and given the bounty of superior setup and middle relief options available for fantasy, a lot of Bradley owners — whether on CBS or elsewhere — should consider looking for an upgrade.

Cody Allen had his own swinging strike drought in late May and early June, but he has bounced back from it with a vengeance. In securing a save against the White Sox on Thursday, Allen struck out three batters and induced four whiffs on 18 pitches. Over his last four innings, Allen has struck out nine batters with 15 swinging strikes out of 70 pitches (21.4 percent).

Despite having taken two losses already this month, Allen does not likely have to worry about getting demoted out of the closer’s role. For those looking for holds, however, a new setup tandem is emerging in Cleveland. Terry Francona has been turning to Neil Ramirez and Oliver Perez frequently in high-leverage situations over the last two weeks, and they teamed up to set up for Allen in the eighth inning on Thursday. They appear to be working their way into a platoon setup situation, so they are now denoted as comprising a setup committee in the roster grid.

Quick hits: Perez is not the only southpaw in his mid-30s enjoying success in a setup role. Zach Duke has a 2.96 ERA and nine holds for the Twins, and in pitching 1.1 scoreless innings against the White Sox on Thursday, he extended his string of consecutive appearances without a run to seven. In that 6.2-inning span, Duke has only three strikeouts, but he has induced ground balls at a 77.3 percent rate…Chad Green has pitched the seventh inning leading up to three of Aroldis Chapman’s last four save opportunities, and he has come away with two holds and a win in those games. The one exception to that pattern came on June 9, when he was coming off pitching on consecutive days in which he had thrown 47 pitches combined. Green has replaced David Robertson in the “Second Up” column in the closer grid…A.J. Hinch called on Hector Rondon to pitch the ninth inning against the Athletics on Thursday. It was not a save situation, but with a 4-0 lead, it was close to being one. Rondon, who has received three of the Astros’ last four save chances, pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.