Welcome back to the latest edition of our Reliever Ranks series! This will bring you up-to-date bullpen depth charts every morning for the day’s games and makes for an excellent tool for those looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!
Notes
Transaction and Schedule Notes
- 20 out of 30 teams were in action on Monday with the following teams enjoying a scheduled day off to freshen up their bullpen: TBR, TOR, BOS, DET, CWS, OAK, PHI, NYM, ARZ, and COL.
- It was a great day for the league’s top closers with Ryan Pressly, Alexis Díaz, Devin Williams, Raisel Iglesias, Evan Phillips and A.J. Puk all recording saves. A lovely start to the fantasy week!
- Nationals bulk reliever Thaddeus Ward was placed on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation – Patrick Corbin was reinstated from the bereavement list in the corresponding move. Cory Abbot will take over long relief duties.
- The Mariners traded Trevor Gott and Chris Flexen to the Mets in exchange for prospect Zach Muckenhim. Gott will likely see middle relief duties after posting a middling 4.03 ERA and 1.41 WHIP with 32 strikeouts over 29 innings so far this campaign. Flexen was immediately designated for assignment with the Mets eating $4 million left on his deal. He will go through waivers.
Yesterday’s Performances
HOU 12 – TEX 11
H: Ryne Stanek (3)
S: Ryan Pressly (18)
- Ryan Pressly’s dominance in the ninth inning continued as he extended his scoreless streak to nine innings with his fourth save in the last six days. Pressly has been phenomenal across the last two months and now boasts a 2.65 ERA, 0.86 ERA and 40:7 K:BB ratio across 37.1 innings this season.
- Will Smith was charged with only his second blown save of the season and took the loss after he coughed up two runs in the top of the ninth inning as the Astros completed a miraculous comeback in one of the games of the year. Smith allowed back-to-back doubles to José Abreu and Chas McCormick with Kyle Tucker already on base after a leadoff single. Smith still has a firm grip on the closer role in Texas.
CHC 6 – MIL 8
H: Julian Merryweather (4)
S: Devin Williams (18)
- The Cubs bullpen imploded in the late innings with Julian Merryweather, Anthony Kay, and Mark Leiter Jr. giving up five runs across two innings to blow a three-run lead after Michael Fulmer backed up Drew Smyly, who couldn’t get out of the fourth inning for the second successive start. Leiter gave up three singles and allowed a stolen base before striking out two handing the Brewers a two-run lead going into the ninth frame.
- Devin Williams worked around a hit and a walk to pitch his ninth scoreless inning and in doing so record his 18th save of the season. Williams has now impressively converted eight straight save opportunities and has improved to a 40:17 K:BB ration across 30.2 innings as the Brewers’ full-time closer.
CIN 3 – WSN 2
H: Ian Gibaut (9), Buck Farmer (8), Derek Law (3)
S: Alexis Díaz (24)
- A full deck for the Reds bullpen with three holds and a joint league-leading 24th save of the season for Alexis Díaz, who failed to strike out a batter for the fourth straight appearance. A worrying trend but fantasy managers cannot balk at the production the young closer has given them this season, and it really does not show any signs of stopping. After pitching on back-to-back nights, Diaz will likely take a back seat if a save chance arrives today – Derek Law or Buck Farmer are the likely candidates to pick up the opportunity.
- Jordan Weems struck out four batters across one and a third innings as he continues his rise up the reliever ranks in Washington. Weems, a former Oakland A, has been brilliant since being recalled in early June. He has pitched to a 2.25 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 11:4 K:BB through his last 12 innings.
ATL 4 – CLE 2
H: A.J. Minter (10), Nick Anderson (14)
S: Raisel Iglesias (15)
- Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias needed just 11 pitches to retire the Cleveland side on order in a perfect ninth inning. Iglesias struck out Steven Kwan and stretched his scoreless streak to four innings. The Atlanta bullpen seems set with Iglesias coming through a sticky patch and A.J. Minter and Nick Anderson owning setup duties.
- After a busy weekend of use for the high leverage arms for the Guardians, bulk reliever Xzavion Curry gave a solid couple of innings to provide much-needed relief to the rest of the pen. Curry threw 33 pitches to get through two and a two thirds innings, striking out two in an impressive outing.
STL 4 – MIA 5
H: Tanner Scott (15)
S: A.J. Puk (14)
- Starter Miles Mikolas gave up back-to-back walks in the seventh inning, knocking himself out of the contest and bringing in the volatile Andre Pallante, who immediately gave up a double and a single to hand the Marlins the advantage. Discouragingly, over nine and a third innings in July, Pallante was tagged for four runs on eight hits and eight walks. Yikes!
- A.J. Puk registered his fourth straight save in as many appearances after allowing a hit and recording a strikeout of Willson Contreras as he impressively dealt with the top of the Cardinals order to notch his 14th save of the season. Tanner Scott was equally as impressive, striking out two and registering his third straight scoreless outing.
PIT 2 – LAD 5
H: Brusdar Graterol (8), Daniel Hudson (1)
S: Evan Phillips (22)
- Young Yerry De Los Santos has made a positive impression in the Pirates bullpen and continued that good form with two solid scoreless innings. He now sports a 0.90 ERA with eight strikeouts across his first 10 MLB innings.
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Despite technically being in a committee in the Dodgers bullpen, Evan Phillips is starting to shine with a stellar four saves in his last five outings, none of which have yielded a run to go along with a 10:1 K:BB ratio. Caleb Ferguson picked up the win after the Dodgers needed to find extra frames to cover Michael Grove’s four inning-start. Ferguson was first out of the bullpen and benefitted from his team stretching out their lead in the fifth inning. The Dodgers used five relievers and will have to manage their late arms in the coming days.
The best of the rest…
- Yankees closer Clay Holmes earned his 1oth save of the season in a 6-3 win over the Orioles, striking out two in a perfect ninth inning. Holmes has had to watch three other bullpen arms pick up saves since his last on the 20th June. It’s a messy situation but we feel Holmes still has the nod.
- Camilo Doval was hit hard for four runs on three hits when he entered a tied ball game in the top of the 9th inning. The Giants came back in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs off Paul Sewald but the Mariners held on for a narrow 6-5 win.
- The Padres went to town on the Angels in a 10-3 rout in which all four Angels pitchers were tagged for multiple earned runs. Young Victor Mederos was charged with two runs on three hits and a walked batter without recording an out in just his second MLB appearance.
- Rookie Taylor Clarke entered in the bottom of the eighth inning with the game tied 3-3 but left after giving up a solo homer to Edouard Julien and allowing four straight singles with only one out. He was tagged for all five runs in the inning. A horror show as the Royals lost 8-4 to the Twins.
Bullpen Depth Charts
The Hold Up: Ranking the Top 100 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday