Bullpen Report: September 18, 2019

As Greg Jewett noted in Tuesday’s Bullpen Report, Felipe Vázquez was arrested on Tuesday morning. Subsequent to his arrest on charges of computer pornography, solicitation of a child and providing obscene material to a minor in Florida, the Pirates placed him on the restricted list. Vázquez is also facing charges in Pennsylvania for statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years old.

In pitching two scoreless innings to wind up the Nationals’ 6-2 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night, Daniel Hudson collected his fourth save of the season. It was also the first save for any Nationals reliever since Aug. 16 and the team’s first ninth-inning save situation since Aug. 30. Hudson’s performance snapped a string of six consecutive blown saves by the Nationals’ bullpen. During the time since their last save, the Nationals’ relievers have collectively compiled a 5.49 ERA, which is the third-highest for any team over that period. Hudson (2.61 ERA) is the only Nationals reliever to pitch at least 10 innings over this stretch and post an ERA below 3.50.

It’s possible that Sean Doolittle and Fernando Rodney could figure into saves over the season’s final 12 days, but Hudson appears to be the best positioned to get future save opportunities. Then again, the Nationals will need to increase their pace of save opportunities just a little bit for anyone to add to their saves total.

Alex Colomé has not been as much of a value for fantasy owners as Liam Hendriks, Brandon Workman, Emilio Pagán or Hansel Robles have been, but he has returned a little more value than owners were likely expecting. He was typically the 17th reliever taken in this year’s NFBC drafts (in terms of ADP), and he currently ranks 15th in standard Roto value. However, Colomé may be finishing 2019 on a down note, On Tuesday night, he blew just his second save of the season, He was unable to protect the White Sox’s 6-5 lead over the Twins in the bottom of the 11th inning, even though all he allowed was a Jonathan Schoop leadoff single, LaMonte Wade Jr., who pinch-ran for Schoop, advanced to second base on a C.J. Cron groundout and to third base on a Colomé wild pitch. Then Wade scored the tying run on Mitch Garver’s sacrifice fly.

The run increased Colomé’s ERA since Aug. 5 to 4.02, and over that 15.2-inning stretch, he has walked 10 batters and registered a 52.1 percent F-Strike%, which is the 22nd-lowest rate among 182 qualified relievers. He appears to be nowhere close to losing the closer’s job for the White Sox, but if you are pretty locked into position in the saves standings, you can probably afford to use his slot on another pitcher.

The same goes for Mychal Givens, who is just 10 days removed from an utterly dominant string of appearances that spanned nearly four weeks. During that period, Givens tossed nine shutout innings with 14 strikeouts and only three hits and a walk allowed. Since then, he has allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits and four walks over 3.2 innings. His latest outing was his most concerning one in awhile, as he entered Tuesday night’s game against the Blue Jays in the top of the ninth inning with the Orioles hanging on in a 4-4 tie. He allowed the Jays to move in front quickly by allowing Justin Smoak‘s leadoff home run, though in striking out Teoscar Hernández and Jonathan Davis, Givens was close to limiting the damage to the single run. Then Danny Jansen singled and Bo Bichette walked, setting up Cavan Biggio’s two-RBI triple, which completed the cycle for the 24-year-old rookie.

The July 31 acquisition of Drew Pomeranz continues to pay off for the Brewers, as he turned in yet another sterling performance. Filling in for Josh Hader, who had pitched 6.2 innings between Sept. 7 and Sept. 15, Pomeranz struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning and returned to pitch a perfect ninth, closing out a 3-1 win over the Padres for his second save. Since Aug. 17, Pomeranz has allowed a run or more in only one of his 15 outings, and he has a 1.17 ERA during this stretch with 27 strikeouts and four walks in 15.1 innings.

Though his middle relief role severely limits his fantasy value, it’s worth noting how well Brent Suter is pitching in his return from Tommy John surgery. He pitched a perfect sixth inning ahead of Matt Albers and Pomeranz in the Brewers’ Tuesday night win, and he has now pitched 12.1 innings with only one run allowed. Suter has 10 strikeouts with no walks, and he is sporting a 13.0 percent SwStr% and a 37.9 percent O-Swing%. He has achieved the high whiff rate, even though his fastball is still averaging just 87.8 mph in velocity and 2133 rpm in spin rate (per Baseball Savant).

Quick hits: Roberto Osuna (34), Raisel Iglesias (32), Kenley Jansen (30), Héctor Neris (27) and Liam Hendriks (23) recorded saves on Tuesday night…Archie Bradley (back) was likely available but not needed or used in the Diamondbacks’ 12-6 loss to the Marlins…Craig Kimbrel (elbow) will be evaluated on Wednesday after having thrown a 16-pitch simulated inning on Tuesday. He could return for the Cubs’ upcoming series against the Cardinals….Dellin Betances has been diagnosed with a partial Achilles tear. He made only one appearance after returning from a season-long stint on the IL for a right lat strain.