Bullpen Report: June 27, 2018

Entering the Giants’ Tuesday night game against the Rockies, it had been one week since Sam Dyson had recorded his one-and-only save since Hunter Strickland was placed on the DL. Given that he had a couple of shaky outings in the interim and that Bruce Bochy called on Will Smith to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie game with the Padres on Sunday, one had to wonder if Dyson was still the Giants’ primary closer.

Whatever worries Dyson — or his fantasy owners — may have had were somewhat assuaged in Tuesday’s 3-2 win. Dyson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his third save of the season, though there were some nail-biting moments. He gave up a leadoff double to Tom Murphy and issued a one-out walk to pinch hitter Chris Iannetta. Dyson appeared to get out of the inning on a DJ LeMahieu double play ball, but the Rockies challenged the call, which was ultimately upheld.

If not for an unusual walk spree by Adam Ottavino in the bottom of the eighth inning, Dyson may have had to wait another day for a chance at a save. Ottavino issued a two-out free pass to Alen Hanson to load the bases, and he followed that up by walking Gorkys Hernandez, which brought in the Giants’ go-ahead run. This was the first time this season that Ottavino had allowed more than two walks, but as the owner of a 24.0 percent O-Swing rate, he may be due for similar outings in the future.

For all of the inconsistency that Shane Greene has displayed as the Tigers’ closer, he had yet to allow runs in consecutive appearances this season…that is, ,until Tuesday against the Athletics. Just one night after allowing Jed Lowrie‘s game-winning home run, Greene gave up a pair of runs after entering a tie game in the ninth inning. Lowrie figured prominently again, driving in the go-ahead run and then scoring the insurance run on Dustin Fowler’s single. Even if the Tigers don’t find a trade partner to take Greene before the July 31 deadline, the closer’s recurring struggles make Joe Jimenez an attractive stash option for saves.

After having allowed runs in three of his last four appearances, Brad Hand got back on track with his 22nd save against the Rangers. He did allow a pair of two-out singles, though the latter one was an Elvis Andrus grounder that had a 17 percent hit probability (per Baseball Savant).

The Padres appeared headed towards their ninth loss in 10 games, but Jake Diekman allowed the visitors to surge ahead with three runs on a pair of doubles, a single and a walk. Diekman recently ran a string of 10 straight appearances without allowing an extra-base hit, but he has now yielded a home run and two doubles over his last two appearances.

Archie Bradley was trending on Tuesday for reasons that had nothing to do with his on-the-field performance against the Marlins, but Tuesday’s inning of work should not get overshadowed. He did give up an unearned run on Ketel Marte’s throwing error, but Bradley recorded all three of his outs by way of strikeouts. Prior to this game, he had faced 28 straight batters without recording a single K.

The award for least conventional ninth-inning bullpen usage goes to Kevin Cash and the Rays. Jose Alvarado began the final frame with a 1-0 lead, and he walked Bryce Harper, putting the tying run on base. Then Alvarado moved to first base, making way for Chaz Roe, who struck out Anthony Rendon. Cash brought Alvarado back to the mound, and he promptly loaded the bases by allowing singles to Juan Soto and Daniel Murphy. Sergio Romo restored order by coming in and getting the final two outs. After whiffing Michael A. Taylor to end the game, Romo created disorder by yelling at Taylor and catalyzing the clearing of both benches.

Quick hits: Jesse Chavez pitched a scoreless seventh inning with three strikeouts against the Padres for his first hold of the season. Since April 25, Chavez has a 2.04 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 33 strikeouts over 35.1 innings. He has also held opponents to a .243 wOBA…Amir Garrett left the Reds’ 5-3 win over the Braves in the eighth inning after getting hit in the left leg by an Ender Inciarte grounder. X-rays came back negative, and Garrett is listed as day-to-day…Josh Hader entered Tuesday night’s game against the Royals with two outs and runners on first and second, but he retired Alex Gordon on a flyout to close out a 5-1 Brewers win. It was Hader’s seventh save of the season, and his first since May 11 at Colorado.