When the Nationals and Phillies got together for a Tuesday night game, you figured you were getting some bullpen drama. But for the Red Sox and Marlins? Who needs closers when you have the majors’ highest-scoring team facing off against the 29th-highest scoring team?
Well, it turns out, the Red Sox and Marlins do.
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With Kelvin Herrera having returned from the DL last Tuesday and Ryan Madson (back) and Sean Doolittle (toe) on the mend, it looked as if the injury-plagued Nationals bullpen was finally going to enjoy some stability. That just might not be in the cards, though, as Herrera injured his foot in the Nationals’ 15-0 win over Mets on Sunday. In just his second appearance since getting activated, Herrera hurt himself while fielding a Jose Bautista grounder, and he had to be carted off the field. X-rays taken after the game came back negative, but he is scheduled for more tests on Monday.
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Prior to Thursday’s game in Colorado, fantasy owners may have had few outward reasons to be concerned about Kirby Yates. Since becoming the Padres’ closer after the July 19 trade of Brad Hand to the Indians, he had not blown a save and tallied 20 strikeouts in 11.2 innings. Yates finally got that first blown save on Thursday, when he gave up Ian Desmond’s two-run walk-off homer. Given that it was at Coors Field, owners may be willing to forgive Yates.
While the 31-year-old is not among the most highly-owned closers, not many of his current owners are sitting him. Yates is 59 percent owned in CBS leagues but benched in 14 percent of leagues. On Fantrax, he has a 57 percent ownership rate but is being sat in only 8 percent of leagues.
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After more than a month of not getting many swings and misses and getting dealt a pair of blown saves in the last two weeks, it seemed like Hector Rondon’s days as the Astros’ closer were numbered, particularly in light of the deadline deal that brought Roberto Osuna over from the Blue Jays. On Tuesday morning, A.J. Hinch announced that, indeed, Rondon was out as the team’s primary closer and that Osuna was in.
Hinch was quick to add, however, that Osuna could still occasionally pitch in situations prior to the ninth inning, and one of those occasions arose on Tuesday night. He called for Osuna to warm up in the seventh inning with the top of the Mariners’ order due up, and while the former Blue Jay was not used then, he did come out to pitch the eighth inning with a two-run lead. Osuna did get all three outs by way of strikeouts, but he also allowed three singles, the last of which drove in Denard Span to cut the lead down to 3-2. For at least one night, Rondon got to stay in his accustomed role, closing out the Mariners on nine pitches.
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Between Paul Molitor‘s recent comments and the fact that Matt Magill and Taylor Rogers pitched the ninth inning in the Twins’ most recent save situation, we can be assured that Trevor Hildenberger won’t be hogging up all of the save opportunities in Minnesota. Hildenberger pitched the ninth inning on Sunday with a one-run lead against the Tigers, though because he got the final out of the previous inning just before Eddie Rosario’s go-ahead solo homer, he was pitching for a win and not a save. The situation was slightly different, but Hildenberger followed his recent pattern of creating a little stress. He began the ninth inning by allowing a Victor Reyes single, and two batters later, Reyes got into scoring position by way of a walk to Jose Iglesias. The drama ended there, as Hildenberger got the final two outs.
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Largely by default, Koda Glover was thrust into the Nationals’ closer role when the team put Ryan Madson (back) on the 10-day disabled list this past Tuesday. It has not gone swimmingly. Just before Madson was placed on the DL. Glover took a loss against the Cardinals on Monday, giving up a walk-off home run to Paul DeJong, and while he got the save in Thursday’s series finale, he allowed the tying run to get into scoring position.
On Saturday night, Glover was called on to keep the Nationals in a tie with the Marlins in the top of the 10th inning, but after getting into trouble again, there was no escape this time. Back-to-back one-out singles put the go-ahead run in scoring position, and after a force out and an intentional walk, Isaac Galloway brought home two runs on a bloop single into center field. Since the Nationals failed to rally in the bottom of the inning, Glover was left with his second loss in six days.
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A few closers took steps toward making fantasy owners more comfortable on Thursday night, but some of the bigger bullpen developments took place before the ninth inning. Still, saves are what we care the most about in fantasy, so let’s start there. Wade Davis had his third consecutive scoreless outing, and in allowing nothing more than a Freddie Freeman single, he preserved the Rockies’ 5-3 lead against the Braves. This was his first save since giving up a pair of homers and taking a loss against the Dodgers exactly one week earlier. Like Davis, Jose Leclerc worked around a leadoff hit to notch a save, as he closed out the Rangers’ 8-6 win over the Angels.
The most notable save, though, was Koda Glover’s against the Cardinals, as it was his first save opportunity since being named as the Nationals’ closer in the wake of Ryan Madson (back) going on the DL. Glover raised the degree of difficulty on his inning by allowing a two-out Jose Martinez single and then walking Matt Carpenter, which put the tying run in scoring position. The drama was short-lived, as Yadier Molina flied out on the first pitch he saw from Glover.
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Remember when Sean Doolittle was diagnosed with a strained toe and Davey Martinez said he just needed a day off?
That was 38 days and three closers ago. Doolittle’s injury — a stress reaction in his left foot — turned out to be far more serious, and while he is back to throwing off a mound as of Tuesday, the Nationals’ bullpen has been riddled with injuries and instability. They placed Ryan Madson on the 10-day disabled list on Tuesday, as he continued to experience back soreness even after getting treatment. So with Doolittle, Madson and Kelvin Herrera all on the DL, Martinez will now turn to Koda Glover, who is just a few weeks removed from his own recovery from a shoulder injury.
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The past week saw several closing situations change hands. Are we on the verge of seeing another one flip?
Some fantasy owners have been anticipating a change of closer with the Astros, but only because they traded for Roberto Osuna. Hector Rondon has held off Osuna so far, and even after allowing Ryon Healy’s game-tying homer on Sunday, he hasn’t done anything that would seem to merit a demotion to a setup role. He did give up four runs to the Rangers in a non-save situation just over two weeks ago, but until Sunday that had been the only real blemish on Rondon’s stat line over the past month. In his eight other appearances, he had shut out the opposition over 8.1 innings on just two hits and two walks.
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Several closer situations have flipped in recent days, and on Saturday, we got an early look at how four of them could play out in the coming weeks. The Twins’ trade of Fernando Rodney created a void, as well as one of the harder ninth-inning situations to read. Despite his recent difficulties in the setup role, Trevor Hildenberger got the first crack at a save in the post-Rodney era. Unfortunately, he stayed true to recent form, allowing multiple runs for the fourth straight appearance. Fortunately, the two-run homer he allowed to Niko Goodrum was not enough to wipe out a three-run lead against the Tigers. Hildenberger did not allow any further damage, so he was credited with his first save of the season.
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