Bullpen Report: May 21, 2018

In the span of two days, Jace Fry has gone from being an emerging lefty getting his first taste of some setup work to being firmly in the saves mix for the White Sox. On Saturday, Fry was used in the eighth inning with a two-run lead against the Rangers. Brought in to face Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo — a pair of lefties sandwiching a switch-hitter — and he came back for the ninth inning to handle left-handed Rougned Odor. Rick Renteria did not opt to give Fry a two-inning save, as he let Nate Jones handle right-handed Robinson Chirinos, even with lefty Ronald Guzman on deck.

On Sunday, the trio of Profar, Mazara and Gallo were due up in the ninth inning, and Renteria let Fry have an encore performance — this time with a 3-0 lead and a save at stake. Fry set the trio down in order, retiring the latter two with strikeouts. Through the first seven performances of his major league career, Fry has yet to allow a hit or a run, and over 8.1 innings, he has 12 strikeouts and two walks. While he has been highly adept at inducing whiffs, posting a 15.9 percent swinging strike rate, he has been even more impressive in his ability to freeze batters, inducing called strikes at a 24.3 percent rate.

Until we see Renteria trust Fry to face more righties, it’s probably a stretch to expect the southpaw to start getting saves chances on a full-time basis. He could be used when there is a string of lefties and pinch-hitters or when Jones or Bruce Rondon are unavailable. When he is not being used for saves, Fry still has value as a source of strikeouts and holds. He could help with ERA and WHIP, too, though there is one potential hazard. Over his admittedly limited sample of innings, Fry has coaxed grounders on only five of the 13 hit balls he has allowed. He has been more of ground ball pitcher in the minors, and it would behoove him to get more grounders going forward, especially during his appearances at homer-friendly Guaranteed Rate Field.

Entering Sunday’s game against Rays, the Angels had built a five-game losing streak that did not feature a single save opportunity. In Sunday’s series finale, Martin Maldonado’s sacrifice fly put the Angels ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning, and with some additional help from his offense, Shohei Ohtani did his part to preserve that lead into the eighth inning. With four outs to go, Mike Scioscia turned to Justin Anderson, who claimed the Angels’ most recent save. While Anderson finished out the eighth inning, Scioscia called on Blake Parker to protect the Angels’ 5-2 lead in the ninth. After allowing a leadoff single Matt Duffy, Parker set the next three batters down in order for his second save of the season and his first since March 30.

After a difficult start to the season, Parker has recovered and put together an impressive run over the last three-plus weeks. He has blanked opponents over his last 9.2 innings, allowing six hits with 15 strikeouts and two walks. As good as Parker has been, he understands — as should we — that Mike Scioscia is slow to commit to a closer. Parker summed it up well when he told the Los Angeles Times, “I was excited for my name to be called, but it could be someone else tomorrow and someone else the next day.”

Prior to Sunday, Felipe Vazquez, Shane Greene and Brad Ziegler had all been in a groove over the course of several weeks, and then all three promptly lost their groove. Vazquez blew the save against the Padres on Jordy Mercer’s high throw to Josh Harrison, which allowed Jose Pirela to score, but he went on to allow three more runs. The Pirates’ closer failed to retire any of the five batters he faced. It was Vazquez’s first blown save and first loss of the season.

Greene’s unraveling against the Mariners took place in the span of four pitches. He allowed a one-out, first-pitch single to Jean Segura, and then Mitch Haniger drove a slider into the left field seats to erase the Tigers’ 2-0 lead. The home run was the first allowed by Greene in the month of May, and it broke a string of seven consecutive converted saves. The Tigers went on to lose in the 11th inning when Buck Farmer gave up Segura’s RBI single.

Ziegler did not blow a save, as he entered the ninth inning against the Braves with a seemingly cushy 9-4 lead. His inning started off well enough with a strikeout of Dansby Swanson, but then Ziegler went on to allow three singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Don Mattingly brought in Tayron Guerrero to bail Ziegler out with the Marlins’ lead down to 9-7, but he did not retire any of the four batters he faced. Guerrero’s day ended Swanson’s walk-off, two-RBI single.

As each of these three closers had been pitching well in recent weeks, there is no reason to think a demotion is imminent for any of them. Ziegler is probably skating on the thinnest ice, but it may help his case that Guerrero and Drew Steckenrider — two of the Marlins’ setup relievers — have been struggling. Kyle Barraclough, who would be the most likely successor to Ziegler, has been enjoying good results, as he has allowed one run over his last 12 innings. However, he has been far from dominant over that stretch, striking out 10 batters while walking eight.

Quick hits: Jordan Hicks closed out the Cardinals’ 5-1 win over the Phillies in a non-save situation, getting the last four outs. He built on an already-robust walk rate, issuing free passes to Cesar Hernandez and Carlos Santana, but he did strike out Odubel Herrera. All five of Hicks pitches to Herrera exceeded 103 mph, and two of them reach 105 mph…Heading into Sunday, Ken Giles had received each of the Astros’ last four save opportunities, and he converted them all. That string appeared to be in jeopardy on Sunday against the Indians with Chris Devenski getting the last out of the eighth inning and coming out for the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead. However, A.J. Hinch warmed up Giles after Devenski allowed Michael Brantley to hit a leadoff double. Devenski got Jose Ramirez to line out, but Hinch opted to give Giles the final two outs. Giles did his job and recorded his eighth save…Jeurys Familia and Kenley Jansen were both unavailable on Sunday, but their replacements fared well. Robert Gsellman pitched 1.2 perfect innings against the Diamondbacks and struck out the side in the ninth inning for his first career save, while Josh Fields notched a four-out save against the Nationals…On Sunday, the Nationals placed Ryan Madson on the 10-day disabled list with a pectoral strain. The Rangers activated Chris Martin, who had been on the DL with right forearm irritation.