Bullpen Report Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Dellin Betances doesn’t have Dellin Betances to set him up, except when he does. Joe Girardi was forced to bring him in with one out in the eighth inning against the Marlins when Justin Wilson wasn’t able to take care of his business. He walked Adeiny Hechavarria and gave up a single to Ichiro Suzuki, and that was it for him. Betances got a grounder to first that Garrett Jones used to nab Dee Gordon at home, then got a liner to right to end the inning. It’s great to see a team bring their best reliever out with the game on the line, and not have to feel as though they have to wait for the start of the ninth. Betances hadn’t pitched since Sunday, so 24 pitches tonight are not a big deal. He worked around a hit and a single, striking out two to claim his fourth save on the year.
Don’t look now, but Ronald Belisario finished his first game of the year, shutting out the Nationals for two innings. Don’t look for him on the closer grid because you won’t find him. I’ll save you from having to look it up, he’s on the Rays. He did hit 96 with his sinker, and got five of his outs via the ground ball. He also mashed a liner out to left. (I just went back and watched the at bat, and it’s great)
The Pirates late-inning trio of Arquimedes Caminero, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon combined to shut down the White Sox over the last three innings Wednesday, giving up a lone single and striking out a pair. They protected a one-run lead to earn a hold, hold and save respectively.
Glen Perkins earned his 23rd save for the Twins, but the focus was on the other side of the diamond and Trevor Rosenthal. Derrick Goold (great follow on Twitter for Cards news @dgoold)notes that Rosenthal was available to close on Wednesday night if needed. That’s good news for the Cardinals for now, but they’ll be monitoring his biceps tightness closely and won’t hesitate to shut him down for further testing if necessary.
John Axford had only pitched once in the past week heading into action on Wednesday, and he was called upon to keep the Rockies down by only a pair at home with a chance to win it in the ninth. Alas, he gave up a two-run homer to Chris Carter, one of the few blips on his game log for 2015. In fact, it’s only the second time all year that he’s surrendered an earned run. For the Astros, Chad Qualls finished the game, but gave up another run and his ERA is now up over 5.00 for the year. Is it time for the Astros to shuffle around the back end of their pen, maybe moving Josh Fields into some higher-leverage situations and shuffling Qualls back? If you look beyond the ugly 5.01 ERA, you see a 2.27 SIERA and a 2.90 xFIP. His K%-BB% is 16.8%, well ahead of his career mark and in line with last year. The issue is an insane 27.3 HR/FB rate. That sits third in the majors amongst relievers with at least 20 IP. He’s got a 69.8% GB%. This doesn’t add up. When Qualls gives up fly balls, they are leaving the yard at an alarming rate. I’m keeping him for holds for now, and he’s still next in line to pick up saves when Luke Gregerson is getting a rest day.
Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth, and Joakim Soria surrendered a game-winning grand slam to Todd Frazier in the bottom of the thirteenth. As a closer, Soria is used to starting an inning, not coming in with a couple of runners on. It looks like J.J. Hoover was unavailable to pitch the eighth after throwing 71 pitches over the previous five games, and that hurt the Reds as Ryan Mattheus gave up the go-ahead homer to Tyler Collins in the eighth.
It would appear that Lloyd McClendon doesn’t quite have full confidence in Carson Smith. He called on Charlie Furbush to face fellow lefties Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford. He induced a lineout from Belt, and then struck out Crawford. Smith came in and struck out Matt Duffy on five pitches for his third save. I wonder what McClendon would’ve done if Buster Posey had been leading off? Would Smith have started the inning and then been pulled for Furbush to face the lefties? A little over a week ago, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times(@RyanDivish and another great Twitter follow) had Lloyd McClendon saying that this very thing was likely to happen.
Of Note: Zach Britton worked around a walk and a hit and recorded his 18th save for the Orioles. Steve Delabar continued his success since being called back up, striking out two of the four batters he faced and retired. His ERA is down to 1.20 on the year. Jim Johnson earned his 16th hold before giving way to Jason Grilli, who notched his 18th save. The Braves bullpen threw three scoreless innings, with Nick Masset getting the win. Daniel Hudson was the bridge again to Brad Ziegler. I still don’t see him slotting ahead of Addison Reed just yet, but maybe the Diamondbacks see it that way. We’ll keep watching the ends of games from Arizona to find out. Probably watch their road games too. Shawn Tolleson had pitched each of the last three games and was getting the night off Wednesday no matter what. This opened the bullpen door for Keone Kela to notch his first career Major League save. Can you imagine how great it would be to have your first anything described by Vin Scully? Speaking of the Dodgers, Chris Hatcher hit the DL with a strained oblique. And finally, a few members of the BR crew are getting a few days of well-deserved rest and relaxation, so you’re stuck with me through Sunday!
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
Darren contributes to RotoGraphs when he isn’t watching the Braves or shoveling snow. Follow him on Twitter @shinesie.
Where is the BR crew grid?