Bullpen Report: September 7, 2019

To suggest it’s been a tumultuous season for Edwin Diaz would be an understatement. He suffered his seventh blown save serving up a two-run home run to red hot J.T. Realmuto on Friday night but garnered his second win after Pete Alsono drew a bases loaded walk for the literal walk-off victory. Not only did Diaz set a career worst with his seventh blown save, the home run also tied him for another dubious place in history, along with his teammates:

Edwin Diaz has now allowed 14 9th inning HR this season, tying Francisco Rodriguez (2014 with Brewers) for the most such HR allowed in a season in MLB history.

The Mets have now allowed 31 9th inning HR this season, the most such HR allowed by a team in MLB history. pic.twitter.com/wGCXij0guy

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 7, 2019

Since April 29th, Diaz owns a 7.19 ERA over 41.1 innings with six losses. However, he’s also riding the wave of increased velocities the last 30 days and more effectiveness with his slider. Not sure if Diaz needs a fresh start, change of scenery or just positive migration to the mean going forward, but he’s far from washed. A career low strand rate (75.8 percent) and an xFIP of 3.09 underscore the outlier this season may represent for Diaz pitching through a myriad of injury issues this year. It will remain under the microscope due to the price paid to land Diaz and Seth Lugo should be available on Saturday if a save opportunity presents itself.

After a rough debut with his new team, Shane Greene locked down his first save with Atlanta firing a clean ninth inning with two strikeouts. He’s recorded 13 straight scoreless appearances yielding four hits and two walks in them with 13 strikeouts. There’s no reports suggesting a changing in the guard in the Braves bullpen hierarchy, but Mark Melancon owners hope he can remain in the majority of ninth inning chances converting all seven of his saves so far with the team. Just note Brian Snitker’s not scared of fluidity in high leverage situations.

Finally, an answer to who will close for Colorado, or at least it justifies those on team Jairo Diaz. He notched the first save for the Rockies since August 16th. Diaz fired a clean ninth inning striking out one for his first major league save. He’s been unscored upon in 18 of his last 22 outings and owns a 1.89 ERA with a robust 23:3 K:BB in 17 innings since July 25th. Carlos Estevez fired 1.2 clean innings with a strikeout for his seventh hold setting up for Diaz in San Diego.

Tough night for the White Sox bullpen with Aaron Bummer coughing up a two-run home run to Brian Goodwin resulting in his second blown save this year. Alex Colome absorbs his third loss serving up a solo shot to Justin Upton in the top of the ninth handing the Angels the lead. Hansel Robles continues to mow down batters turning in two clean innings of relief for his fifth win. Robles recorded three strikeouts and has retired the last 19 batters he’s faced. Since June first, spanning 39 innings, Robles minuscule 1.38 ERA leads the American League of any pitcher with at least 30 innings pitched. His next save will also mark his 20th and the first Angels reliever to reach this total since Huston Street in 2015.

With Arizona still in the periphery of the Wild Card chase, Archie Bradley notched his 13th save working around a hit and a walk with a strikeout in a scoreless outing. His 13 saves since July 30th leads the majors but there’s some cracks in the sparking 1.82 ERA over his last 29.2 innings dating back to June 26th. Bradley’s 90.9 strand rate could suffer some regression towards his 3.45 FIP and 4.32 xFIP. Especially given Bradley’s issued at least one walk in four straight contests leading to a WHIP of two in his last five appearances with runs allowed in two of them. Ride the hot streak of Bradley as an owner, just beware the correction which could occur.

San Francisco’s Will Smith retired his name sake in Los Angeles securing his 32nd save Friday night. Smith also yielded a solo home run to A.J. Pollock. Smith’s given up six runs on 10 hits (four home runs) and five walks his last seven games spanning eight innings for a 6.75 ERA and 1.88 WHIP. Fatigue could be a factor for Smith trying to finish a whole season without injury since 2015.

Quick Hits: Jose LeClerc recorded his 11th save with his second in two days working around a hit and a walk with a strikeout in Baltimore…Save number 25 for Felipe Vazquez giving up two hits with three strikeouts in 1.1 scoreless innings…Ian Kennedy notched his 27th save allowing a hit with a strikeout versus the Marlins…Thanks to Cole Sulser loading the bases with no outs in the ninth inning, Emilio Pagan locked down his 19th save stranding all three runners along with striking out one…Roberto Osuna locked down his 32nd save with a clean outing and a strikeout…Joe Jimenez gets his sixth save yielding a hit with a strikeout in Oakland…It’s being reported Craig Kimbrel could return as soon as Thursday for the Cubs. For now, consider this a committee. Stay tuned…