Bullpen Report: Sunday, June 28, 2015

Lloyd McClendon said on Saturday that he wants Fernando Rodney to reclaim the closer role. Late on Friday he also confirmed that he went with Carson Smith in the eighth because it was the toughest matchup with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols due up. If he’s going to mix and match to close out games until he has full confidence in Rodney again, don’t drop Smith just yet. He’s still going to help you with ratios and strikeouts, and I think he’s still going to pick up a few saves. Huston Street grooved a sinker to Kyle Seager, and Seager tied the game in the top of the ninth on Sunday. In the bottom half, Rodney got the nod and he gave up a hit in his seventh consecutive scoreless outing to get the game to extras. Carson Smith had pitched the last two outs of the eighth, coming in after Trout was intentionally walked. He got Pujols to fly out and then struck out Kyle Kubitza. A Tom Wilhelmsen wild pitch provided the rare wild pitch walkoff victory for the Angels in the tenth.

Steve Delabar started the eighth inning with a one-run lead on Sunday. He gave up a hit and a walk, and was relieved by Roberto Osuna with two outs and runners on the corners. He struck out Shin-Soo Choo on three pitches to head to the dugout with the lead. He worked around a leadoff double by Rougned Odor, stranding the tying run after having him on second with no outs, staring down Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre and Mitch Moreland. He got a lineout to left, a fly out to centre(hey, it’s in Toronto), and then called out Russell Martin to discuss how to attack Moreland.  John Lott  of the National Post has a strong breakdown with quotes from Osuna and Martin.

After Sergio Romo gave up a home run to Nolan Arenado to lead off the ninth, slimming the Giants lead to three, Javier Lopez was summoned from the bullpen to face Carlos Gonzalez and got him to line out to left. Santiago Casilla came in and gave up a single to Wilin Rosario, setting up a game-ending double play from Nick Hundley on a comebacker to Casilla. It was Casilla’s 21st save of the season, and it was his fifth save of the year where he didn’t have to get all three outs.

Of Note: Ken Giles retired four Nationals in the second game of a doubleheader, needing 24 pitches to earn his 11th hold. The man he could soon be replacing, Jonathan Papelbon, struck out one in a scoreless ninth to record his 14th save. Greg Holland had pitched Friday and Saturday, so he was given Sunday off. With Wade Davis in the pen, it’s not hard to give Holland a blow in that situation. He earned his ninth save and struck out two in a scoreless ninth. Neil Ramirez was activated by the Cubs on Sunday, but hadn’t made it into the game when this was posted. It’ll be interesting to see how Joe Maddon uses him in that late-inning mix. Drew Storen(23), Koji Uehara(16), Kenley Jansen(11), Jason Grilli(21), and Luke Gregerson(18) all notched saves on Sunday.

Notes from Saturday: Jake McGee got the seventh inning as Kevin Cash liked the matchup of his stud lefty against Brock Holt and David Ortiz sandwiched around Xander Bogaerts. Kevin Jepsen pitched the eighth, and Brad Boxberger earned his 20th save with a scoreless ninth. A.J. Ramos and Carter Capps both had identical lines, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Capps got his fourth hold, and Ramos earned his tenth save for the Marlins. Josh Fields pitched two scoreless innings for the Astros, but Pat Neshek and Tony Sipp couldn’t follow suit, giving up three runs between them. Dellin Betances got the save for the Yankees, his sixth. Glen Perkins(24), Santiago Casilla(20), Greg Holland(16), and Huston Street(21) all had saves on Saturday.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Daniel Hudson	Enrique Burgos	Addison Reed
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	David Aardsma
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Junichi Tazawa	Alexi Ogando
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Jason Motte	Pedro Strop	Rafael Soriano
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	J.J. Hoover	Ryan Mattheus	Tony Cingrani
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Zach McAllister
Colorado	John Axford	Boone Logan	LaTroy Hawkins	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Joba Chamberlain	Al Albuerquerque	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Pat Neshek	Josh Fields	Chad Qualls
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Fernando Salas
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Yimi Garcia	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	Bobby Parnell	Carlos Torres	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson	Chasen Shreve	Andrew Miller
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Eric O’Flaherty	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	Brandon Maurer	Joaquin Benoit
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Hunter Strickland
Seattle	Carson Smith	Fernando Rodney	Mark Lowe
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Tanner Scheppers	Keone Kela	Neftali Feliz
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Brett Cecil	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.]