Welcome back to Relievers to Stream for Wins and Saves! This will bring you up-to-date bullpen depth charts every morning for the day’s games and makes for a great tool for those of you looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so be sure to check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!
Notes
Schedule Notes
- After a full slate yesterday, ten teams will have the day off today: BAL, TB, CLE, LAA, TEX, NYM, CHC, STL, ARI, and SD.
- Tyler Alexander will get the start in a bullpen game, and with the Tigers facing the Mariners, the dominos are lined up for someone to vulture a win. Unfortunately, most of Detroit’s best-suited arms are in need of rest today — José Cisnero, Kyle Funkhouser, and Daniel Norris have all gone back-to-back and shouldn’t be expected to be pitch. Rony García is the most likely pick to pick up multiple innings, but do not mistake that prediction for a recommendation.
Yesterday’s Performances
- It was a second-straight slow day for saves thanks to a combination of blowouts and blown chances. Of the latter, none was more dramatic that Will Smith’s blown save against the Phillies: with two outs and a 1-0 lead, he allowed a two-run home run to Luke Williams, who was starting his first career game after being called up the day before. Smith’s ERA isn’t all that indicative of how well he’s pitched — he’s stranded runners at a below-average rate, and batters have hit line drives off of him at an absurd and unsustainable 36% clip this year — so do your best not to panic after a high-profile moment.
- On the other side of things was Kenley Jansen, who secured his fifteenth of the year in what turned into a grueling bullpen game for the Dodgers. This was Jansen’s second night in a row, so expect him to be off tomorrow. Notably, though, his save two nights ago was very short — a one-out save courtesy of a three-pitch strikeout — so an emergency appearance in extras is conceivable.
- The Blue Jays put five combined runs on the board in the 8th and 9th innings to eliminate the possibility of a save chance in their game against the White Sox, but Tyler Chatwood and Jordan Romano did pull high-leverage double-duty in the 7th and 8th prior to that in order to keep the White Sox to two runs. Chatwood earned the win, Romano picked up a hold, and both recorded a strikeout without allowing a hit. It’s possible that we would have seen Rafael Dolis get a save chance had Toronto not put the game out of reach.
- Cristian Javier picked up his first “save” of the year last night — a four-inning, one-hit, three-strikeout gem reminiscent of his playoff performances last year. The Astros’ bullpen has really only been reliable in its ability to give up walks this year, so it will be interesting to see if Javier can claim a high-leverage multi-inning role if the Houston rotation is full.
- The Nationals’ bullpen will be on thin ice this weekend after laboring through an 11-inning win last night. Brad Hand threw 44 pitches over two innings, which should mean he’ll be off for tomorrow at the very least. He wasn’t alone, though — Daniel Hudson racked up 33 pitches over five outs, and both Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey topped 20 pitches. Rainey was the only one among them not to give up an earned run, and he picked up the save in the 11th, earning two strikeouts along the way. The team will hope that Max Scherzer can carry the team through six or seven innings tonight to give these arms a night off.
- San Francisco’s bullpen also made some notable noise in their 11-inning loss in Arlington. Tyler Rogers blew a save chance in the ninth inning, and while the official ruling was a single, I encourage you to make that determination yourself. Rogers returned for the 10th, allowing the ghost runner to score to tie the game and send it to the 11th, where Jake McGee gave up a walk-off hit to Brock Holt. Either of these two could conceivably have the night off tonight — McGee for pitching on back-to-back nights, and Rogers for his two long innings of work.
Bullpen Depth Charts