Bullpen Report: June 19, 2019

Tuesday night’s slate did not lack for saves, as Kirby Yates (26), Shane Greene (21), Aroldis Chapman (19), Alex Colome (15) and Hansel Robles (11) were among the closers who added to their save totals. In a break from the normal pattern, there just wasn’t much in the way of late-inning relief events that were notable for fantasy owners.

The one head-turning closer development was David Bell’s use of Michael Lorenzen in a save situation for the second night in a row. While it looks like a new pattern is emerging for the Reds, the circumstances of Lorenzen’s two saves were entirely different. In Monday night’s 3-2 win over the Astros, Raisel Iglesias was ostensibly in line for a five-out save, but after walking Myles Straw and popping up Alex Bregman to start off the ninth inning, the Reds’ closer had thrown only 10 strikes in 21 pitches. With tough lefties Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez due up, Bell decided to make a change, going with Lorenzen. While Iglesias had allowed lefties to slug .556 against him, Lorenzen had a more muted .415 SLG allowed versus left-handed hitters. Lorenzen retired both batters for his third save.

On Tuesday, Bell turned to Iglesias in the eighth inning, not because he was steering away from him in the ninth inning, but because he wanted the trusted righty to face Yuli Gurriel and Robinson Chirinos — a pair of right-handed hitters in the middle of the Astros’ order. Iglesias struck them both out, but with his spot in the order coming up in the bottom of the eighth, Bell went with Josh VanMeter to hit for him and with Lorenzen to handle the Astros’ 6-7-8 hitters in the top of the ninth. He set them down in order for his fourth save of the season.

While Iglesias has not lost the closer’s job (and does not even merit a “Not Very Stable” tag in the closer grid below), his removal from Monday’s game does suggest that he may not always be trusted to face left-handed hitters in high-leverage situations. It’s conceivable that Lorenzen or lefty Amir Garrett could see save chances when these types of situations occur in the future. Those scenarios won’t likely be common enough for owners to seek either reliever outside of deeper formats.

It’s no secret that change will soon be afoot in the Cubs’ bullpen. Craig Kimbrel made his first appearance with Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday, as he works his way towards joining the Cubs as their closer. He pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and is set to pitch for Iowa again on either Thursday or Friday.

The Cubs have yet to determine when Kimbrel will be added to the major league roster, but Pedro Strop may have trouble hanging on to the closer’s role until then. He took the loss against the White Sox on Tuesday night, as he gave up Eloy Jimenez’s go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. Though Strop recovered to retire Yonder Alonso for the first out, Joe Maddon did not let him finish the inning, pulling him for lefty Tim Collins. Maddon entrusted Collins to handle righty Ryan Cordell, who has a 40.8 percent strikeout rate against lefties, and switch-hitter Yolmer Sanchez. Collins did his job, but the Cubs failed to rally against Colome in the bottom of the inning.

Since returning from the IL on June 4, Strop has picked up four saves, but he has also had to work around some serious control issues. Over his four post-IL innings, he has compiled a 30.0 percent Zone% and an abysmal 29.4 percent first-pitch strike rate.

The Twins and Red Sox each used eight relievers in their 17-inning duel on Tuesday night, but it won’t likely mean you need to change your fantasy bullpen plans for Wednesday. Of the Twins’ late-inning relievers, only Blake Parker has been used on consecutive days. Taylor Rogers, as one would expect, pitched the top of the ninth when the game was tied, 2-2, and he threw 15 pitches. He had not pitched since Saturday. Alex Cora may try to avoid using Brandon Workman and Ryan Brasier on Wednesday night, as Workman has pitched in three of the Red Sox’s last four games and Brasier was used on Monday and Tuesday.

Quick hits: Having been called on to close out the Padres’ Tuesday night win against the Brewers and preserve Logan Allen’s first career win, Yates pitched on his third consecutive day. The last time the Padres were in this situation, Andy Green turned to Craig Stammen for a save opportunity that fell a day after Yates’ back-to-back-to-back appearances. Stammen did not pitch on Tuesday night, so he should be available to close if a save situation avails itself on Wednesday…Ken Giles (elbow) is scheduled to throw live batting practice on Wednesday. He could be activated at some point during the Blue Jays’ coming weekend series at Boston…The Mets placed Jeurys Familia on the 10-day IL with a right shoulder injury (specifically, a Bennett lesion)…The White Sox activated Jace Fry, who had been on the IL with a sore left shoulder. Fry immediately saw game action on Tuesday night, striking out Kyle Schwarber to begin the bottom of the eighth inning against the Cubs. Then he was relieved by Evan Marshall, who got the final two outs and has now pitched 17 innings without an earned run this season…Jose Alvarado still does not have a timetable to return to the Rays. Before that can happen, he has to throw bullpen sessions and live batting practice and pitch in minor league games to the point where he can throw on consecutive days…On Tuesday, one veteran reliever lost his spot on the 40-man roster, while another was let go by his team altogether. The Rockies designated Mike Dunn for assignment, and the Angels released Cody Allen.