Bullpen Report: September 16, 2019

On Sunday, we saw Kenley Jansen and Kyle Gibson in unfamiliar roles, though in neither case was it necessarily a sign of things to come.

Given Jansen’s recent struggles, one could be forgiven for thinking that his appearance in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the Mets on Sunday night could have been the first sign of a demotion from being a full-time closer. He entered the bottom of the eighth inning with the game tied, 2-2, and Jansen kept it that way. He needed only 10 pitches to retire Juan Lagares, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso, finishing up the inning by striking Alonso out on three pitches. In a break from his recent pattern, Jansen showed sharp command and control, demonstrating the latter by throwing six of his ten pitches in the strike zone.

The Dodgers moved ahead of the Mets, 3-2, on Jedd Gyorko’s RBI single off Seth Lugo in the top of the ninth inning, and with Jansen having been pinch-hit for, Adam Kolarek and Kenta Maeda pitched the bottom of the inning. In getting the final two outs, Maeda recorded his second save of the season.

However, Dave Roberts’ plan was to get Jansen, who had pitched just once in the prior seven days, into the game somehow, and when the Dodgers were trailing, 2-1, in the top of the eighth inning, he saw an opportunity to get his closer into the game in the bottom of the frame. The Dodgers subsequently tied the game up on a Chris Taylor RBI double, but Jansen still pitched the bottom of the eighth.

An even more surprising development was seeing Kyle Gibson coming out of the bullpen to protect the Twins’ 4-3 lead over the Indians in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out, runners on the corners and a gmLI of 3.05. Gibson relinquished the lead on his second pitch, which Roberto Pérez deposited in the seats just beyond the center field wall. He kept Cleveland’s lead at two runs by retiring Ryan Flaherty and Francisco Lindor to end the inning. Gibson was called into relief duty because the Twins’ bullpen was depleted after Saturday’s doubleheader, and he was slated to throw a bullpen session anyway.

After the Twins and Indians each scored a run in the seventh inning, the home team carried their two-run advantage into the eighth inning and then the ninth. With Brad Hand (arm fatigue) still unavailable, Terry Francona went with a recent callup in the eighth and ninth innings, but it wasn’t James Karinchak. Instead it was 32-year-old James Hoyt, who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and issued a leadoff walk to Luis Arraez before giving way to Oliver Pérez with two outs in the ninth. The lefty dispensed with Eddie Rosario in two pitches to get his first save of the season. While Hoyt is not in the closer grid just yet, he joins Pérez, Nick Wittgren, Adam Cimber and possibly Karinchak as candidates to get saves in Hand’s absence. Hand threw in the outfield on Sunday morning, but there is still no timetable for his return.

The Cardinals were also without their incumbent closer, as Carlos Martínez had been hospitalized with respiratory issues on Saturday night and was not with the team at the ballpark on Sunday. They went with their usual setup tandem of Giovanny Gallegos and Andrew Miller with a save situation looming against the Brewers, and with a 4-3 lead entering the top of the ninth inning, Mike Shildt turned to John Gant to close out the game. He was not able to finish the inning, having walked the bases loaded with one out, and Shildt lifted him for LOOGY Tyler Webb with Mike Moustakas coming up. After getting Moustakas to fly out, Webb was replaced by Junior Fernandez, who subsequently yielded Ryan Braun’s grand slam.

With no further scoring occurring in the top of the ninth, Josh Hader came in to get the save in the bottom of the inning. Entering this game, Hader had made 10 consecutive scoreless appearances covering 12.1 innings, but that streak was snapped when Tommy Edman slammed a two-run homer to narrow the Brewers’  lead to 7-6. Hader protected this slim lead by striking out Harrison Bader and Tyler O’Neill to end the contest.

The Mariners’ already-confusing closer situation got a little more complicated on Sunday. Anthony Bass has seemingly been overtaking Matt Magill as the team’s primary closer — a perception that was reinforced by Bass pitching the top of the ninth inning in a tie game with the White Sox on Saturday. On Sunday, the same situation availed itself, but it was Austin Adams who got the call, even though Saturday’s appearance was Bass’ first in three days. Adams struck out Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada and José Abreu in succession, and he got the win as José Ruiz walked in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Since coming off the IL on Sept. 1, Adams has allowed four runs in 6.1 innings, but he also has nine strikeouts with a 17.0 percent SwStr%.

Shaun Anderson picked up a pair of saves this week with Will Smith out with a tight back, but the Giants may not need him to close again this season. Smith made his return on Sunday, pitching a scoreless ninth inning to finish off a 2-1 win over the Marlins.

Quick hits: Raisel Iglesias (31), Hansel Robles (21), Ken Giles (20) and Brandon Workman (14) each got a save on Sunday…In just his second major league appearance, Jesus Luzardo earned his first career save, pitching the final three innings of the Athletics’ 6-1 win over the Rangers…Craig Kimbrel (elbow) threw a 20-pitch bullpen session on Sunday with no apparent problems, but there is still no timetable for his activation…Joakim Soria’s nine-day absence has been due to an elbow injury, but he may have been available for Sunday’s game against the Rangers. However, he did not make an appearance…Jordan Romano is out with an ankle sprain but thinks he may pitch again for the Blue Jays by late this week.

Not Very Stable
Hot Seat
Committee
Bullpen Report — 9/16/2019





Al Melchior has been writing about Fantasy baseball and sim games since 2000, and his work has appeared at CBSSports.com, BaseballHQ, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster and FanRagSports. He has also participated in Tout Wars' mixed auction league since 2013. You can follow Al on Twitter @almelchiorbb and find more of his work at almelchior.com.

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stever20member
4 years ago

I think Jansen was used to ensure he got some work. He had only worked 4 innings this month so far. They only have 5 games this week and I think that played into it as well…. It’s not as crazy as it would seem.

Anon
4 years ago
Reply to  Al Melchior

As a Jansen owner, good to hear too. Makes sense – there was no guarantee of a 9th at that and once you’ve gotten up and warming, well, might as well go ahead and get him in there rather than sit him down and cool off.

Jimmember
4 years ago
Reply to  Al Melchior

Jansen says he has found his cutter again:

https://www.mlb.com/news/dodgers-rally-late-past-mets

Jansen said he felt his mechanics sync up while playing long toss a day before his Thursday appearance in Baltimore.

“I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just muscle memory when I’m doing things well, and for some reason it just clicked,” he said.