Archive for Diego Castillo

The showdown between Frankie Montas and Charlie Morton on Thursday night lived up to expectations. Montas dominated the Rays for eight innings, allowing just one run (on a Tommy Pham solo shot), while a Jurickson Profar solo homer was the only run allowed by Morton over 6.1 innings. Emilio Pagan relieved Morton and kept the game knotted at 1-1, giving the Rays’ offense a chance to take the lead against Athletics closer Blake Treinen.

Instead of the game being defined by a matchup of two of the American League’s best starters, it became a story of two struggling closers. Treinen began the top of the ninth inning by walking Pham and Brandon Lowe, and then the Rays pounced with a double steal and back-to-back RBI singles by Avisail Garcia and Ji-Man Choi. That was it for Treinen: four batters, two runs scored, no outs. He was relieved by Ryan Buchter, who let Garcia score on a one-out Willy Adames sacrifice bunt.
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It has now been 10 days since Wade Davis ended his stay on the IL with an oblique injury, and he has appeared five times for the Rockies since then. Enough time has passed that it’s fair to say that the warning signs that were present for Davis before going on the IL have not gotten any weaker.

In Davis’ three outings before getting shelved, he had given up three runs on five hits and a pair of walks over three innings, and the average velocity on his fastball was 93.3 mph, as compared to 94.1 mph prior to that stretch. Since returning from his injury, Davis has allowed seven runs on nine hits and three walks over 4.1 innings, and his average fastball velocity has dipped a little further to 92.9 mph.
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In the moment Jose Alvarado owners yearned for, a save chance, things did not go as planned in New York. Alvarado last recorded a save on April seventh against the Giants on the road. He’s also registered five holds and two losses in 12 outings since. After Diego Castillo retired the Yankees in order in the eighth with two strikeouts, Alvarado entered to face Luke Voit, a known southpaw killer. Voit hit his 11th home run, and second off a lefty, leading off the inning. Alvarado allowed a single to Gary Sanchez, another hitter who fares better versus lefties, before striking out Kendrys Morales. But, a Gleyber Torres double put the go ahead run at second base. Struggling a bit with command, Alvarado uncorked a wild pitch after intentionally walking Clint Frazier scoring the tying run. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems the more we think to know about the Red Sox bullpen, perhaps the less we do? Matt Barnes opened the season as the highest leverage reliever, capable of appearing at any point when needed by manager Alex Cora. Last night, this happened, but with Ryan Brasier entering the game in the top of the seventh with runners on second and third base with two outs, taking on the A’s most dangerous hitter, Khris Davis. Brasier retired Davis with a strikeout, then threw a clean eighth getting the win in relief for his efforts. After Boston extended its lead, Hector Velasquez opened the ninth but only recorded one out while loading the bases on a hit and two walks. This pressed Barnes into duty and he responded with his second save. Read the rest of this entry »

After a difficult latter half of May, Felipe Vazquez seemed to get himself in the clear with some effective performances to begin this month. Vazquez’ first three games in June resulted in 3.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. That brief string of encouraging outings was snapped on Wednesday, as he nearly frittered away the three-run lead the Pirates gave him to start off the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks. Jon Jay’s two-out, bases-loaded single cut the lead to one run, and the tying run — represented by Deven Marrero — was just 90 feet from home. After an intentional walk to Paul Goldschmidt, Vazquez escaped the inning by striking out Jake Lamb.
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