Bullpen Report: June 21, 2018

Life is coming at the Giants’ bullpen fast. On Monday, Hunter Strickland blew a save against the Marlins and punched out a door. On Tuesday, Strickland had surgery and Sam Dyson was named the new closer. That night, Dyson notched a save, and then on Wednesday afternoon, he came perilously close to blowing a save.

The Giants gave Dyson a three-run cushion in their series finale with Miami, but the Marlins shaved a run off the lead when Starlin Castro brought Miguel Rojas home with a one-out sacrifice fly. Dyson was one strike away from recording his second save in two days, but then Brian Anderson smacked an 0-2 two-seamer into right field for an RBI single. After J.T. Realmuto singled on Dyson’s very next pitch, Bruce Bochy called for Reyes Moronta to get out of the jam. In striking out J.B. Shuck on four pitches, Moronta got credit for his first career save.

Because Moronta has been used primarily in the middle innings, he has received little attention from fantasy owners, but he has been superb this season. Armed with a mid-to-upper 90s fastball and an effective slider, Moronta has posted a 1.91 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP to go with three holds. He has induced soft contact at a 23.4 percent rate and has the 10th-lowest average exit velocity allowed on flyballs and line drives (89.3 mph, per Baseball Savant) among pitchers with at least 60 batted balls.

Tony Watson figures to get a lot of work in the eighth inning setting up for Dyson, but on Wednesday, he was brought in to bail out Derek Holland in the seventh inning, after the Giants’ starter kicked off the inning by allowing a Lewis Brinson double and a Rojas single. Fantasy owners should not read anything into Watson’s early entry into the game, as the Marlins were due to send lefties J.T. Riddle and Derek Dietrich up. Ty Blach pitched the eighth inning and recorded his second hold of the season. It was also his second hold in two days.

The Orioles have not had a ninth-inning save situation since June 7, and that preceded Zach Britton’s activation by four days. On Wednesday night, Britton got a little closer to his first save of the season. He pitched the eighth inning with a 3-0 lead against the Nationals and started off the ninth inning by retiring Bryce Harper. However, with pinch-hitter Michael Taylor due up and Trea Turner on deck, Buck Showalter opted to bring in righty Brad Brach.

For his part, Brach did not do anything to stave off an impending demotion to a setup role to make way for Britton. He gave up singles to both Taylor and Turner, and after getting Wilmer Difo to make the second out, Brach walked Brian Goodwin to load the bases. He did escape unscathed, however, by striking out Mark Reynolds.

While the Phillies do not have an official closer, Gabe Kapler has been leaning heavily on Seranthony Dominguez in save situations. With Dominguez having been used three times over the previous four days, Kapler looked to Victor Arano and Adam Morgan to protect the Phillies’ 4-3 lead over the Cardinals in the ninth inning. Arano started off the inning by retiring Kolten Wong, but after he yielded a Jedd Gyorko double, Morgan came in to finish the job. The lefty set down Matt Carpenter and Tommy Pham, earning his first career save. Morgan became the seventh Phillies reliever to record a save so far this season.

Keone Kela had pitched on back-to-back days and in three of the previous four days for the Rangers, so Jeff Banister turned to Jake Diekman for the save against the Royals on Wednesday night. Though Diekman gave up a Mike Moustakas solo homer, he came away with his second save of the season. He has a 13.3 percent walk rate so far this year, but Diekman has walked only two batters over his last 12.2 innings while recording 15 strikeouts. He has been helped by a 39.2 percent O-Swing% over that span, which has been a huge upgrade over the 25.9 percent rate from his first 14.2 innings this year.

Quick hits: On Wednesday night against the Mets, Wade Davis rebounded from a four-appearance stretch in which he allowed seven runs (six earned) and blew two saves over 3.1 innings. Davis allowed only an Amed Rosario single in collecting his 21st save of the season…Ken Giles pitched the ninth inning with the Astros holding a 5-1 lead over the Rays. He created some tension by walking Mallex Smith and allowing a Carlos Gomez single, but he stranded both runners. Giles has now made four consecutive scoreless appearances, three of which were in non-save situations…In pitching 2.1 innings against the Mariners without giving up a run, Jonathan Holder has now gone 25 consecutive innings for the Yankees without allowing an earned run…The Cubs did not have a save situation against the Dodgers on Wednesday, but Anthony Bass pitched the game’s final two innings with a four-run lead. After allowing an Enrique Hernandez double to start off the eighth inning, Bass was perfect in recording the final six outs.