Bullpen Report: Sunday, June 14, 2015

The Braves are now three games below .500, and a huge reason is because, as we’re reminded on an almost daily basis by Chip Caray, the Braves were unable to outscore their bullpen again. Mike Foltynewicz couldn’t get past the fifth inning, and Brandon Cunniff had to come in to spell him. He struck out a pair of Mets, but not before giving up a bomb to Travis D’Arnaud and walking a pair. Luis Avilan gave up a three-run homer to Juan Lagares in the sixth, to erase all memory of the Braves 8-3 lead. New additions David Aardsma and Dana Eveland each pitched a scoreless frame. The Braves will need that to continue, or maybe they turn to a few of their minor-league starters to work out of the pen in Atlanta in an effort to keep their innings down, and also start reaping benefits from them sooner rather than later. Matt Wisler and Manny Banuelos would seem to be logical options if the Braves choose that route.

Brad Boxberger got the call in the eighth inning on Saturday, and he gave up three hits and the lead. He got the win after the Rays pulled ahead in the eighth against Zach Putnam. Jake McGee surrendered a hit and a walk, but struck out two and grabbed his third save, seemingly firming up his hold on the closer’s role for now. Sunday, things continued to clear up a bit. McGee is not going to be used three days in a row just yet, so Kevin Jepsen got the call to bag up the White Sox and earned his fifth save. The eighth inning belonged to Steve Geltz, and Boxberger wasn’t deployed. So for now, it looks like McGee is going to be getting save opportunities on the regular, with Jepsen getting the scraps on days when McGee is getting a blow. Not a bad idea to grab Jepsen if he’s available in your deep league.

The Marlins had a late lead on Saturday, and chose to use Sam Dyson and Mike Dunn to get through the eighth before turning to A.J. Ramos to pitch a perfect ninth and earn his eighth save. Steve Cishek saw his first action since returning from AA Jacksonville, when he got the call on Sunday with the Marlins down three runs in the seventh. He walked one, struck out one, and threw seven of his thirteen pitches for strikes. He’ll likely be eased back in to higher-leverage situations, and with Ramos showing no signs of faltering, there is no reason to think Cishek will be seeing any save opportunities in the near future. On the other side of the diamond, John Axford struck out the side, lowered his ERA to 0.48 and earned his 12th save. He’s been a real bright spot stepping up to fill the role when Adam Ottavino was felled by TJS.

The Yankee bullpen came up big on Sunday, pitching 4.3 scoreless innings, striking out five in the process. Chasen Shreve got the win after coming in during the fifth inning, retiring one and then pitching the sixth. Justin Wilson only needed 23 pitches to blank the Orioles over the seventh and eighth, striking out three and earning his ninth hold. He’ll need to come up big to fill in for Dellin Betances, who has been thrust into the closer role after Andrew Miller hit the DL. Betances earned his third save of the year.

Keone Kela pitched a strong eighth inning for the Rangers, striking out two and giving up a hit, leaving the game in the hands of closer Shawn Tolleson. Tolleson surrendered a leadoff double to Eduardo Escobar, and after he was thrown out at third after a poor Byron Buxton bunt, the situation appeared to be under control. Brian Dozier popped out to short, bringing up Eddie Rosario, who doubled on a 2-0 pitch, and Buxton flew around the bases to give the Twins the lead. Glen Perkins had only pitched thrice in the past two weeks, so he was well rested. He pitched a perfect ninth for save number 22. Casey Fien pitched two brilliant innings to earn the win, striking out three Rangers.

Of Note: Clint Hurdle wanted to give Mark Melancon the day off on Sunday, and Antonio Bastardo grabbed the win after the Pirates were able to get to Jonathan Papelbon. It was Papelbon’s second inning of work, and he did induce what should have been an inning-ending grounder, but Freddy Galvis didn’t comply, throwing the ball away and setting the stage for Josh Harrison to single home the winner. He hadn’t pitched in a week, so it wasn’t a tough decision to send him out for another frame. It was a blowout in Houston, but Fernando Rodney pitched a scoreless eighth, walking one Astro and striking out another. Carson Smith gave up a run in the ninth on two hits, but also struck out three. Brad Ziegler had pitched on Friday and Saturday, so when Rubby De La Rosa allowed the first two Giants to reach in the ninth, Daniel Hudson got the tap to try for his first save of the year. He got it, striking out one and walking another.

Notes from Saturday: After going over a month without a save, Brett Cecil notched the second save in two days for the Jays, his fourth on the season. Mark Melancon saved his 20th of the year for the Pirates with a perfect ninth inning. Tony Watson stumbled a bit in the eighth, giving up three hits, a walk and a run, but it was enough for him to be credited with his 15th hold. Cody Allen gave up two hits and a walk in his inning and a third on Saturday, holding the Tigers down and grabbing save number 14. Jeurys Familia was unavailable Saturday, after throwing 39 pitches the previous two days. Hansel Robles and Alex Torres weren’t able to slam the door, and the Braves put up a pair of runs to tie the game. They won it in eleven innings, with starter Williams Perez grabbing the save. The Braves pen threw almost five scoreless innings. Trevor Rosenthal notched his 21st save for the Cardinals. Brad Ziegler earned his eighth save with Randall Delgado taking care of business in the eighth for his third hold. Huston Street saved his 19th on Saturday night, and Kendall Graveman gave the A’s pen the night off, throwing all eight innings. Joe Smith grabbed his 17th save to move into a tie with Sergio Romo atop the MLB leaderboard. Craig Kimbrel saved his 16th and Brandon Maurer got the call in the eighth over Joaquin Benoit. He’s not jumping him in the pecking order, but it’s nice for the Padres to have a few options to get the ball to Kimbrel. Pedro Strop got the nod in the eighth inning of a tied game at Wrigley on Saturday, and Jason Motte was tapped for the ninth, the spot where you typically see the closer for the home team. Joe Maddon does want someone to emerge and grab the role, but didn’t lean to anyone in particular. This is going to be posted before the game Sunday night, so this story will continue to unfold and there may be more clues as to how Maddon will be proceeding with his pen.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Addison Reed	Daniel Hudson	Enrique Burgos
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	David Aardsma
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Pedro Strop	Hecton Rondon	Jason Motte	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Tony Cingrani	J.J. Hoover	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Brooks Brown	Boone Logan	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Joba Chamberlain	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Yimi Garcia	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Carter Capps	Steve Cishek
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jeremy Jeffress	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Sean Gilmartin	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson	Chasen Shreve	Andrew Miller
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist	Seth Maness	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Brandon Maurer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Fernando Rodney	Mark Lowe
TB	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Tanner Scheppers	Keone Kela	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Casey Janssen	Matt Thornton	Aaron Barrett

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