Bullpen Report: September 15, 2016

Tyler Thornburg has pretty much been nails since taking over the ninth-inning role for the Brewers following the trade deadline deals of both Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith. He’s accumulated the second-most WAR among qualified relievers over the last month (0.6 WAR) thanks in part to a pretty 0.00 ERA (2.71 FIP) and successfully converting five saves in six opportunities. Tonight, Thornburg needed four outs and 33 pitches (18 strikes – eight called, one swinging) to earn his 10th save of the season, but surrendered a hit and a couple of free passes along the way. All is green in Milwaukee for Thornburg.

Alex Colome surrendered a pair of hits in Baltimore tonight, but also fanned a pair of Orioles to seal his 33nd save of the season in a 7-6 victory for Tampa Bay. Colome needed just 13 pitches (10 strikes – one called, one swinging) to close out Baltimore. On the year, Colome is 33-of-35 in save opportunities with a 1.97 ERA (3.08 FIP) and a 11.8 K/BB in 60.1 frames on the hill. He owned a career best 15.8% SwStr%, 25.1% K-BB% and 51.8% GB% prior to Thursday’s action. Bradley Boxberger picked up the win on the Rays’ behalf — his fourth of the season.

Dellin Betances served up four earned runs on three hits and a walk to earn the blown save — his fifth of the season — and the loss — his sixth on the year — in a crucial loss to their chief rival Red Sox, 7-5. The Yankees’ right-hander is now 11-of-16 in save opportunities with a 2.83 ERA (1.71 FIP) and a 15.43 K/9 in 70 innings in ‘16. Despite the seven earned runs allowed in the past week or more, Betances will remain green in New York.

Quick Hitters: Patrick Corbin picked up his first save and second of his career tonight in a three-inning effort while striking out four. Jason Grilli (19), Joaquin Benoit (16), Tommy Layne (10), Danny Farquhar (4), Erasmo Ramirez (14), Alex Wimmers (1), Carlos Torres (15) and J.T. Chargois (2) notched holds on Thursday.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Daniel Hudson	Randall Delgado	Jake Barrett
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Mauricio Cabrera	Ian Krol	Arodys Vizcaino
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Brad Brach	Mychal Givens	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Koji Uehara	Brad Ziegler	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Aroldis Chapman	Hector Rondon	Justin Grimm.
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Matt Albers
Cincy	Tony Cingrani	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Adam Ottavino	Jake McGee	Carlos Estevez	Scott Oberg
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Alex Wilson
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris
KC	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Luke Hochevar
LAA	Andrew Bailey	Mike Morin	J.C. Ramirez	Cam Bedrosian
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Joe Blanton	Adam Liberatore
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Fernando Rodney	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Tyler Thornburg	Corey Knebel	Blaine Boyer
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Ryan Pressly	Taylor Rogers	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Addison Reed	Fernando Salas
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard	Adam Warren
Oakland	Ryan Madson	Ryan Dull	John Axford
Philly	Jeanmar Gomez	Hector Neris	David Hernandez
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Neftali Feliz	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Kevin Siegrist	Jonathan Broxton
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand
SF	Hunter Strickland	Will Smith	Sergio Romo
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Steve Cishek	Nick Vincent	Tom Wilhelmsen
TB	Alex Colome	Brad Boxberger	Xavier Cedeno
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jake Diekman	Matt Bush	Jeremy Jeffress
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joaquin Benoit
Wash.	Mark Melancon	Shawn Kelley	Blake Treinen

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]