Bullpen Report: June 26, 2018

On Tuesday night, the Twins shut out the Blue Jays, 5-0, and while it was a superb performance by Jose Berrios, there wasn’t much of interest as far as relief work goes.

Or so I thought. A commenter for Wednesday morning’s Bullpen Report, docgooden85, pointed out a few things that are worth noting for those speculating on future Twins saves. Trevor Hildenberger, who we have listed in the “First Up” column in the closer’s grid, did pitch the eighth inning, but in the aftermath of a couple of recent ineffective performances, he did it with a five-run lead. Also, in Ryan Pressly (1.38 ERA and 18 strikeouts over his last 13 innings) and the recovering Addison Reed (elbow impingement), Hildenberger has a couple of rivals for saves down the stretch, should the Twins trade Fernando Rodney.

Hildenberger himself is not doing much to inspire confidence lately. On Wednesday evening, he pitched the eighth inning again, but this time it was with a three-run lead. Hildenberger gave the entire lead away on a Luke Maile bases-loaded single and an Aledmys Diaz grounder that got out Maile out at second base while Teoscar Hernandez scored. Over his last 10 innings, Hildenberger has allowed 12 runs on 16 hits and seven walks. His control has eroded, and he is getting more swing on pitches in the strike zone.

At this part, it’s hard to see Hildenberger assuming the closer’s role when and if Rodney is dealt. Perhaps Reed will be the handcuff to Rodney many of us thought he would be back on draft day.

The Twins ultimately prevailed, 12-6, in 11 innings, but the Blue Jays’ handling of the later innings is worth some scrutiny. John Gibbons went with Tyler Clippard in the top of the seventh inning when they were down by a run. This is not only notable because Clippard has been used frequently in save situations lately, but also because Seung Hwan Oh was not going to be an option to pitch the eighth or ninth inning, should the Jays have tied the game or grabbed the lead. That’s because the Jays agreed to trade Oh to the Rockies on Wednesday evening. The deal was finalized on Thursday morning, with the Rockies sending minor leaguers Chad Spanberger and Forrest Wall, plus a player to be named later.

With Clippard having been used and Oh on his way out of Toronto, that left Ryan Tepera as the most likely reliever to be withheld for a save opportunity, but Gibbons called on him in the eighth inning to clean up a mess left by Joe Biagini and to hold the deficit at two runs. Tepera allowed the Twins to extend the lead to 6-3, but the Jays rallied against Hildenberger in the bottom of the inning. So it was Jaime Garcia whom Gibbons entrusted to pitch both the top of the ninth and 10th in a tie game. The lefty responded with two perfect innings, and he has now produced five perfect innings with five strikeouts over his last two appearances. Roberto Osuna is due back on Aug. 5 — just over a week away — but in the meantime, one has to wonder if Garcia could be called on for a save or two.

With Oh headed to Colorado, the footsteps may sounds a little louder to Wade Davis. He helped himself on Wednesday night with a rebound effort after Tuesday’s five-run implosion against the Astros. Davis not only pitched a scoreless top of the ninth inning that was marred only by a walk to Yulieski Gurriel, but he got two outs via strikeout and a groundout as well.

Cody Allen may have heard some footsteps of his own, as Terry Francona opted to use Brad Hand to get the final four outs in the Indians’ 4-0 win over the Pirates. While there has not yet been an official change at closer in Cleveland, beat writer Paul Hoynes surmised that Allen and Hand could switch roles at some point.

With Keone Kela and Jake Diekman receiving trade interest, Jose Leclerc has looked like a closer-in-waiting, and he got a chance to audition on Wednesday night against the Athletics. Kela and Diekman threw 40 and 31 pitches, respectively, on Tuesday night, so Leclerc got a chance to nail down a 5-4 Rangers win in the ninth inning. By issuing a one-out walk to Nick Martini and then coughing up a Khris Davis two-run homer two batters later, he took a blown save and a loss.

Leclerc is a bat-misser and a wild pitcher, but despite strong flyball tendencies, he is not homer-prone. Of pitchers who have allowed at least 75 batted balls, Leclerc has the 10th-lowest average exit velocity allowed on flyballs and line drives (per Baseball Savant), and Davis’ home run was the first one he had allowed all season. Leclerc himself could get traded in the coming days, but if he does stick around and close for the Rangers, performances like the one on Wednesday night will likely be an aberration.

The first save of the post-Jeurys Familia era for the Mets went to Anthony Swarzak, who pitched two scoreless innings in a 6-4 win over the Padres on Wednesday. However, the Mets’ closer situation looks to be pretty wide open. While we should figure that Swarzak and Robert Gsellman should get some save chances, Jacob Rhame and Drew Smith are also on Mickey Callaway’s radar to receive some closer work.

Quick hits: The Cubs have recorded two saves since Brandon Morrow (biceps) went on the 10-day disabled list, and Pedro Strop has received both of them. He pitched a scoreless inning against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday for his fourth save of the season…Collin McHugh gave up a Charlie Blackmon walk-off homer on Wednesday night. It gave him his first loss of the season, and it represented just the second earned run he has allowed in his last 22.1 innings…Sergio Romo notched his 12th save, but took a break from shutting down the Yankees in the ninth inning to play third base with Greg Bird at bat. Jonny Venters filled in for Romo on the mound for the one batter…After getting Tuesday’s game off, Seranthony Dominguez got a four-out save against the Dodgers on Wednesday…The Dodgers received two perfect relief innings from Caleb Ferguson, who struck out each of the last four batters he faced. As a reliever, Ferguson has allowed three runs (two earned) over 18 innings with 24 strikeouts and two walks…In other Dodgers bullpen news, Dylan Floro was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday.