Archive for Bullpen Report

Saves had been scarce for the Nationals in September, but heading into Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Phillies, Daniel Hudson had both of the team’s saves this month. By the end of the twin bill, Hudson had doubled the Nationals’ saves total — and his own — for September by closing out both games of the sweep. Hudson tossed 1-2-3 innings in both games, even though he did not get a strikeout in either outing. That has been his norm this month, as he has pitched 8.2 inning while allowing three unearned runs on eight hits and a walk but with only three strikeouts. Hudson’s 4.8 percent SwStr% is the third-lowest among 209 qualified relievers in September.

Nonetheless, Davey Martinez says he trusts both Hudson and Sean Doolittle to take on high-leverage situations. Doolittle has been inconsistent in getting swings-and-misses since returning from right knee tendinitis earlier this month, but he has allowed one run over six innings over seven September appearances. He pitched a perfect eighth inning in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, and Martinez said that he plans on using Doolittle and Hudson as his eighth and ninth inning relievers. It was not completely clear if Martinez meant that Doolittle would pitch the eighth and Hudson would get the ninth, but given their recent usage patterns, it seems safe to assume that those will be their respective roles over the season’s final five games.
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With a playoff spot on the line, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash did not hesitate lifting Emilio Pagan from a save situation after giving up consecutive singles to Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers before striking out J.D. Martinez. Colin Poche entered with Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. due to hit. However, Boston countered with Christian Vazquez pinch hitting for Moreland and striking out. Then Xander Bogaerts entered the fray for Bradley Jr., also striking out ending the game. Poche notched his second save stranding both inherited runners. Pagan gets credit for his eighth hold and remains the top closing option for the Rays going forward but he’s struggled at times versus the Red Sox and with every game carrying extra meaning, Cash will do whatever it takes to ensure a victory. Read the rest of this entry »

In Sunday’s edition of the Bullpen Report, Ben Pasinkoff covered some of the key happenings from Sunday afternoon’s games, and the most notable of those was Justin Wilson getting the save in the Mets’ 6-3 win over the Reds. This is a hard move to interpret, as not only was Seth Lugo available, but he set up for Wilson in the eighth inning. It was also not a matter of Mickey Callaway using Lugo in a high-pressure situation in which the Reds’ best hitters were due up. Lugo entered the game with a three-run cushion and Tucker Barnhart, José Iglesias and José Peraza coming up. These were the Reds’ 5-6-7 hitters. Lugo gave up a leadoff home run to Barnhart but nothing else. It was the first home run yielded by Lugo since Juan Soto went yard against him on Aug. 10.

The Mets got the run back in the top of the ninth inning on Brandon Nimmo’s solo shot off Sal Romano. Wilson protected the 6-3 margin, allowing only a walk to Joey Votto. It was the lefty’s fourth save of the season, and given that there is no clear alternative explanation for this pattern of reliever usage, one can only assume that Wilson and Lugo will be splitting whatever save opportunities come the Mets’ way over the final week.
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The Cubs activated Craig Kimbrel on Thursday after he spent two weeks on the IL with right elbow inflammation. With the Cubs never holding a lead in Thursday night’s game against the Cardinals and trailing 4-1 heading into the ninth inning, it did not appear they would need Kimbrel to pitch, at least as a closer. Pedro Strop took the mound for the top of the ninth, so it looked like Kimbrel would have to wait at least another day to make his return.

Carlos Martínez came in for the bottom of the ninth, and with him riding a streak of 11 straight scoreless appearances and having a three-run buffer, the Cubs’ chances of winning or at least forcing extra innings looked slim. Over those 11 outings, Martínez had struck out 14 batters and allowed only two hits over 10.2 innings.
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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.
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On the surface, Joe Jimenez secured his seventh save in eight chances last night. He survived loading the bases on three consecutive hits with two outs by striking out Trey Mancini. Delving into his splits since ascending to closing for the Tigers, Jimenez owns a 15:6 K:BB, 3.09 ERA, 1.71 WHIP and 5.10 xFIP in 11.2 innings since August ninth. He’s yielded a 53.1 fly ball rate and 17.6 home run per fly ball percentage resulting in three home runs along with a .292/.370/.521 slash line against. Less than optimal. Fantasy owners will take the production of seven saves over his last 13 appearances but should proceed with caution due to the inflated WHIP and xFIP predicting some regression to the mean. Read the rest of this entry »

Amidst the struggles prior to September within the Rockies bullpen, both Jairo Diaz and Carlos Estevez continue to emerge as high leverage options. Last night, Diaz notched his third save in the last four days erasing a lead-off hit by Wil Myers with a double play ground out by Josh Naylor then ended the game with a strikeout of Luis Urias. This marks the fourth save of the month for Diaz and he’s yet to allow an earned run his last 7.2 innings with seven strikeouts against one walk. He’s also been unscored upon his last six appearances. Estevez recorded his 10th hold with a clean eighth inning striking out one. His month’s proves to be more impressive than Diaz with a minuscule 0.15 WHIP over 6.2 scoreless innings with an identical 7:1 K:BB. It can be tough to trust relievers in the Rockies, but there could be hope with a healthy Scott Oberg combined with the recent success of Diaz and Estevez in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth inning against the Orioles for his 29th save on Thursday night, and it was the sort of uneventful outing that typically only gets a mention in the “Quick Hits” section of this column. Yet it was notable, not for what happened in this particular appearance, but how it fit into a larger trend.

The Dodgers’ closer threw 18 pitches, and only seven of them were in the strike zone. That 38.9 percent Zone% gave Jansen a string of eight outings in which he has recorded a Zone% below 40 percent in all but one appearance. Six of those eight performances have resulted in Jansen throwing no more than one out of every three pitches in the strike zone, and his cumulative Zone% over this eight-inning span is just 29.0 percent. To put this into perspective, no qualified reliever between 2014 and 2018 finished with a rate below 32 percent.
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Greg Jewett made a speculative call in Tuesday’s Bullpen Report that doesn’t look so speculative now. He noted how Shaun Anderson has thrived since moving to the bullpen, and given how depleted the Giants’ relief corps is right now, he could see some save opportunities in the former starter’s future. The first of those opportunities came as soon as Tuesday night against the Pirates. With Will Smith (back) still unavailable and Tony Watson (wrist) likely out for the season, Anderson got the call to pitch in the top of the eighth inning with two outs and a 5-4 lead, which had been a 5-0 advantage heading into the inning.

In getting José Osuna to fly out to end the threat in the eighth and pitching a scoreless ninth, Anderson recorded his first career save. With Smith’s return not looking imminent, Anderson and Jandel Gustave, who blew a save chance in Monday night’s series opener, figure to be the primary candidates for save opportunities in the near term.
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Entering the ninth inning with a win potential of just under 93 percent, the Giants bullpen coughed up a chance to preserve a home win for Madison Bumgarner versus the Pirates. It started rather innocuously with Tyler Rogers returning to the mound with a two run lead in the top of the ninth after retiring the side in order in the eighth inning. However, a lead-off single by Kevin Newman chased Rogers from the game with San Francisco bringing in Fernando Abad to face Cole Tucker. Abad induced a fielder’s choice groundout allowing Newman to reach second base, then walked Josh Bell before giving up a single to Elias Diaz loading the bases with one out.

This prompted Bruce Bochy to bring Jandel Gustave into the game for the save chance fresh off his first on on Saturday getting the game ending double play versus the Dodgers. It also sounded the alarms for Will Smith owners who remains out due to back tightness. He last pitched on September sixth with very little news about when Smith will return. Tony Watson also remains sidelined with a wrist injury last working on September fourth. Kevin Newman greeted Gustave with a game tying single scoring two runs then Bryan Reynolds gained a measure of revenge versus his former franchise hitting a single driving in the go ahead run for Pittsburgh. A fielder’s choice ground out allowed Melky Cabrera to reach first again loading the bases and Jose Osuna drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Pablo Reyes popped out ending the inning but not before Gustave suffered a blown save leading to an eventual loss to Abad, his second of the season. Read the rest of this entry »