Bullpen Report: May 4, 2018

The last time we saw Ken Giles on the mound for the Astros, a Gary Sanchez three-run homer and Aaron Hicks single knocked him out of the game, and then he punched himself in the face. On Thursday night, it was Gleyber Torres who dealt the finishing blow to an Astro reliever’s save hopes.

With the Astros up on the Yankees, 5-3, heading into the top of the ninth inning, A.J. Hinch passed on giving Giles a chance at the save, even though his primary closer was available. Instead, he opted to go with Will Harris, who kicked off the inning by walking Neil Walker and then loaded the bases by allowing back-to-back singles. Brad Peacock was summoned to bail Harris out and get the save, but on his second pitch, Torres stroked a game-tying single into left field. Two batters later, Hicks scored on an Aaron Judge ground out.

After the loss (which was nailed down by Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the inning), Hinch inferred that if he could play the game over again, he would have let Chris Devenski, who struck out the side on 12 pitches in the eighth inning, come back out to pitch the ninth. Alas, he did not, so for now, Devenski remains in the “First Up” spot in the closer grid below. Hinch’s postgame statement was not a ringing endorsement of Harris, so he has been left out of the grid. It’s also unclear as to whether Giles will get the next save chance, so he still has a tentaitve hold on the first spot in the Astros’ portion of the grid.

The White Sox’s walk-off victory against the Royals was a bummer for Joakim Soria owners who wanted to see the closer get a shot at his first win of the season. The game was knotted up, 5-5, to start off the ninth inning, but instead of calling on Soria to keep the game tied, Rick Renteria brought in lefty Aaron Bummer. Unlike Hinch’s snub of Giles, this move had a clear motive, as left-handed Logan Morrison was set to lead off. After retiring Morrison, Bummer stayed in the game to face righty Gregorio Petit, whom he struck out. The portsider wasn’t able to finish the inning, as he hit Jason Castro with a 91 mph sinker and then gave way to Nate Jones. After getting Brian Dozier to make the third out, Jones picked up the win, as Trayce Thompson smashed a walk-off homer in the bottom of the inning.

While it makes sense that Bummer came in to face Morrison and Castro, it’s not clear why it was Jones instead of Soria who got to face Dozier. Soria had pitched only once in the previous five days, though that lone appearance was when he blew a save against the Cardinals on Tuesday. Soria remains in the closer column of the grid, but he has been downgraded to “Not Very Stable”. So has Bruce Rondon, who resides in the “Second Up” column, but may have been leapfrogged by Bummer for situations where left-handed hitters are due up.

In his 13th appearance of the season, Kenley Jansen finally notched his first 1-2-3 inning, setting down Daniel Descalso, Alex Avila and David Peralta in order for his fifth save. Something else was different in the Dodgers’ win over the Diamondbacks. After grabbing the lead in the top of the eight inning, it was Ross Stripling who came out to pitch the bottom of the frame. Pedro Baez was likely unavailable after throwing 44 pitches on Wednesday, but Josh Fields was presumably available. Stripling, for his part, pitched a perfect inning, and he may have positioned himself for more high-leverage work. Over his last five appearances covering 4.1 innings, Fields has allowed two home runs while not recording a single strikeout. In that span, he has made 59 pitches, but only four resulted in swinging strikes and just five were called strikes.

The Diamondbacks also made a surprising move in the eighth inning, bringing in Fernando Salas, who ultimately took the loss. However, both Brad Boxberger and Archie Bradley were unavailable, and Torey Lovullo was holding Yoshihisa Hirano for a possible save in the ninth inning.

Quick hits: If we are going to pick on Jansen for a string of full-inning appearances with at least one baserunner, then we should put Roberto Osuna under some scrutiny as well. He has had just one 1-2-3 inning in his last seven appearances. Over that seven-inning stretch, he has allowed five runs and 13 hits…Addison Reed gave up Thompson’s walk-off homer, leaving him with two losses and a blown save over his last seven performances. Over that 6.2-inning stretch, Reed has allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks.