Bullpen Report: June 6, 2018

The White Sox’s doubleheader against the Twins on Tuesday served as a closer drama with two acts. In the first game, the Sox crusied into the bottom of the eighth inning with a 2-0 lead, and they were on the verge of something they hadn’t had since May 22 — a ninth-inning save situation. Nate Jones, who recorded the team’s last save in that game from 15 days ago, was brought in for the eighth inning to face the Twins’ 8-9-1 portion of the batting order. He retired Ehire Adrianza and Mitch Garver at the bottom of the order, but leadoff hitter Brian Dozier reached on a single. After walking Eddie Rosario, Jones allowed Miguel Sano to cut the lead to one run with an RBI single. Then Eduardo Escobar snatched the lead away with a three-run homer.

In the second game, the Sox had another eighth-inning adventure, this time with a 6-2 lead. Jace Fry began the frame with a walk to Robbie Grossman, but he remained in the game to handle the left-handed Rosario. The Twins’ slugger prevailed with a single, and Fry gave way to Bruce Rondon, who yielded an RBI double to Escobar. Rick Renteria played matchups again, summoning southpaw Luis Avilan to face Max Kepler and righty Joakim Soria to face Garver. Both relievers responded with a strikeout.

With the White Sox’s lead at 6-3 for the bottom of the ninth inning, Renteria sent Soria back out for the rare ninth-inning save opportunity. Though Soria got into a minor jam by hitting Brian Dozier with two outs and then allowing a Grossman single, he sealed the win by getting Rosario to make the final out.

While Soria pitched his way out of the closer’s role earlier this season, he has settled in over the last couple of weeks. Over his last seven appearances, he has allowed only one unearned run on two singles, a walk and a hit batter (Dozier). He has also notched eight strikeouts over those 7.1 innings, getting swings and misses on 19.0 percent of his pitches. Between his recent success and Jones’ failure to close out the Twins in the first game, it would seem to be an upset if Soria did not get the White Sox’s next save opportunity.

On Tuesday night, the Marlins found themselves with their first save opportunity since Don Mattingly replaced Brad Ziegler with Kyle Barraclough in the closer’s role. Barraclough preserved the 7-4 lead over the Cardinals with a pair of lightly-hit outs and a deep flyout from Matt Carpenter. Over the past month, Barraclough has struck out only four batters over 12.2 innings, but he has induced grounders at 51.4 percent rate. He still has some minor implosion potential, as flyballs and line drives have been hit off him with an average exit velocity of 93.1 mph over that stretch (per Baseball Savant).

Cody Allen recorded his 10th save of the season on Tuesday night, but he is still emitting some warning signals. He allowed a leadoff home run to Travis Shaw, marking the second appearance in a row in which he has given up a homer. Allen also induced only one swinging strike from the Brewers’ hitters, out of a total of 18 pitches, slightly lowering his whiff rate over his last eight appearances to 6.5 percent.

The Indians have lacked for reliable setup options, so there has been no obvious successor to Allen should he get into a deeper funk, especially with Andrew Miller (knee) still out. One possible option is emerging, though, in Neil Ramirez. The journeyman righty set up Allen’s save on Tuesday night with a perfect eighth inning, and he has a modest string of four consecutive scoreless appearances spanning 4.1 innings. Over seven innings this season, Ramirez has a 15.7 percent swinging strike rate and has been pounding the strike zone at a 53.9 percent rate. A 34.8 percent ground ball rate combined with a 99.7 mph average exit velocity on flyballs and line drives could spell trouble if the latter mark does not revert towards last season’s level of 90.7 mph.

Felipe Vazquez made his first appearance since his May 31 meltdown against the Cardinals, and the results were encouraging. He pitched the ninth inning against the Dodgers, with the Pirates trailing 5-0, and he tossed a perfect frame, striking out Cody Bellinger and Enrique Hernandez in the process.

Quick hits: Zach Britton advanced his rehab assignment to Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday. He pitched 1.1 scoreless, hitless innings in his first appearance there…Lou Trivino gave up his first home runs as a major leaguer and also recorded his first loss on Tuesday night against the Rangers. He allowed homers to Adrian Beltre and Joey Gallo and got only one out before departing in the eighth inning…Seranthony Dominguez has yet to allow a run or a walk in his 14.2 major league innings. He pitched in a non-save situation in the Phillies’ 6-1 win over the Cubs…Joe Smith has bounced back from some struggles in late April. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the Astros’ 7-1 loss to the Mariners, and since May 1, he has allowed only one run over 9.2 innings. Smith has 10 strikeouts and two holds over that period…Adam Conley has taken to his new middle relief role. He threw a scoreless sixth inning with two strikeouts against the Cardinals on Tuesday night, lowering his ERA to 1.23 and raising his strikeout rate to 34.5 percent. Having been used almost exclusively as a starter in his previous three seasons, Conley had never averaged more than 91.3 mph in fastball velocity in any previous year, but so far in 2018, that mark is up to 95.2 mph…The Braves thumped the Padres, 14-1, on Tuesday night, but they still got a save. Luke Jackson, who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett earlier in the day, pitched the final three innings of the contest. A Franmil Reyes home run represented the only hit and run that Jackson allowed, and he was credited with his first career save.