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
- All 30 teams were in action today, plus we had some bonus baseball with WAS and PHI playing a doubleheader after the rainout the day before.
- Gregory Santos was reinstated from the Bereavement list and should slot back in as the top option for the White Sox.
- Only one appearance since returning from the IL, Dany Jiménez was optioned to AAA. Jiménez had seemed like the reliever next in line for saves after Trevor May, but apparently, Oakland has other ideas.
Yesterday’s Performances
CLE 1 – TOR 0
HD: Trevor Stephan (17)
SV: Emmanuel Clase (30)
- Emmanuel Clase bounced back after a blown save on Sunday and secured save number 30 for the Guardians. He served his 1 game suspension on Monday for being involved in the Tim Anderson affair. Trevor Stephan paved the way in the 8th, locking down his 17th hold with a scoreless frame.
- After a quality 1-run start from Yusei Kikuchi, Génesis Cabrera threw a clean 8th inning on 9 pitches. The 1 run allowed by Kikuchi ended up being the only run of the game. At least the bullpen will be nice and rested.
CHC 3 – NYM 2
HD: Julian Merryweather (12)
SV: Adbert Alzolay (15)
- Julian Merryweather notched his 3rd hold of the week, and 12th of the season, with Mark Leiter Jr. having gone 2 in a row. Adbert Alzolay followed it up with another quick save on 9 pitches (he had an 11-pitch save on Sunday), allowing one hit and striking out none.
- In a tie game, New York went with Phil Bickford in the 6th, Trevor Gott in the 7th and the game stayed tied going into the eighth inning until Drew Smith allowed a run on a Mike Tauchman homer. The bridge to the closer looked pretty clear, but there still wasn’t any clarity on who the actual closer is after things swung the Cubs’ way.
WAS 5 – PHI 4
HD: None
SV: Kyle Finnegan (18)
- The Nationals bullpen kept Philadelphia off the board after Josiah Gray spotted them 4 runs, culminating in a Kyle Finnegan save.
- With the rainout on Monday, the Phillies’ bullpen was fresh and ready to go. Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto, and Craig Kimbrel were all deployed in the tie game. Dominguez and Soto escaped unscathed, but Kimbrel allowed Joey Meneses his 2nd home run of the contest for his second blown save of the season, both of which have come in the past 8 days.
COL 7 – MIL 3
HD: None
SV: None
- Colorado got more than an inning of scoreless work each from Brent Suter and Matt Koch. After things got out of hand, Justin Lawrence came in for the bottom of the 10th in what looked like it was going to be a save situation before Colorado ended up scoring 4.
- Milwaukee’s bullpen had a hard time finding the strike zone, allowing 5 walks in the final 2 innings, and a tie game quickly became a 4 run loss. Devin Williams took the ball in the ninth in a tie game and while he wasn’t his sharpest, he kept it scoreless. The wheels completely came off for recent acquisition Andrew Chafin in the 10th. Chafin quickly allowed a walk and a hit to load the bases with the extra innings ghost runner before he ended up walking in a run and getting pulled without retiring a batter. Abner Uribe came in to try and keep things close but ended up allowing all of Chafin’s inherited runners to score via 2 walks and a sacrifice fly.
HOU 7 – BAL 6
HD: None
SV: Ryan Pressly (27)
- This game looked like it was Baltimore’s to lose after Framber Valdez allowed 6 runs… and lose it they did when Félix Bautista allowed 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning! Prior to this appearance, Bautista had gone 14 straight appearances without a run so it’s safe to say he should be good, but it still doesn’t feel great. He threw 30 pitches, so he’ll more likely than not need a break tomorrow if a save opportunity should arise. Yennier Cano had fired a scoreless 8th ahead of Bautista and would have been in line for a hold had Felix converted the save.
- After Bautista’s implosion in the top of the 9th, Ryan Pressly cruised in for a quick, clean save with the soreness that made him unavailable over the weekend seemingly a non-issue now. Ryne Stanek found himself with the win after a scoreless 8th.
MIA 3 – CIN 2
HD: Andrew Nardi (8), Tanner Scott (22), Buck Farmer (10)
SV: David Robertson (16)
- Vindication for David Robertson! After a slightly rocky start to his Marlins’ tenure after the trade deadline, and then 5 days without an opportunity, Robertson pitched around a walk for his 16th save of the season, and second for Miami, while striking out 2. Both of Miami’s setup men saw work ahead of Robertson, with Tanner Scott and Andrew Nardi logging hitless innings.
- Cincinnati went to the bullpen early in the 5th as Luke Weaver failed to finish 5 innings for the second straight start. That meant a long road to closer Alexis Díaz that unfortunately took a detour after Lucas Sims allowed a Jorge Soler 2-run shot for his 4th blown save of the season. 1 run was charged to Sims, and the other to Buck Farmer who had hit Nick Fortes with a pitch before departing an otherwise runner-less appearance.
ATL 8 – PIT 6
HD: Ryan Borucki (3), Colin Holderman (17), Andre Jackson (1)
SV: Raisel Iglesias (21)
- Pittsburgh got all the holds, but Atlanta got the win and Raisel Iglesias got the save, making it a little interesting with 2 baserunners. Joe Jiménez, Brad Hand, and Kirby Yates held the line in the early innings with scoreless appearances for all 3. After Pittsburgh couldn’t put the game away, Yates got his 6th win of the season before ceding to Iglesias in the 9th.
- Pittsburgh may have gotten all the holds, but they weren’t pretty. Ryan Borucki allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and in 1/3 of an inning and was still credited a hold, though one of those runs was an inherited run that Colin Holderman allowed to score. Holderman finished the inning for Borucki but walked 2 along the way. Despite all this he too was credited with a hold. Andre Jackson came in for 2 innings and 4 strikeouts of superb work that definitely deserved a hold, but then David Bednar got blown up for 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks for his 3rd blown save of the season.
SEA 2 – SDP 0
HD: Matt Brash (16)
SV: Andrés Muñoz (6)
- Logan Gilbert was fantastic across 7 innings of 1 hit baseball, striking out 12 Padres. From there, everything went according to plan as Matt Brash got his 16th hold in a slightly shaky 8th, before Andrés Muñoz closed the door in the 9th. It’s pretty clear at this point that Muñoz is the guy, and Brash is his setup man. Brash may see the occasional save when Muñoz needs a day off, but Seattle is definitely going with the 1 closer approach this year.
- Recent acquisition Scott Barlow was charged with the Loss, allowing a run in 1.1 innings following 3 innings of scoreless baseball from Nick Martinez. It remained a close game, so Josh Hader and Robert Suarez both got some work since they hadn’t appeared in a game in a few days. Both tossed scoreless innings with a strikeout apiece.
The best of the rest…
- Pete Fairbanks secured his 15th save of the season but decided to give up a Willson Contreras home run to make it interesting.
- The Yankees deployed Michael King and Jonathan Loáisiga to keep the hapless White Sox off of the board for the remaining 3 2/3 innings after a solid start from Clarke Schmidt. This was Loáisiga’s first appearance after his IL stint, and it came in the 9th after the Yankees had scored 3 runs to take away the save chance. King threw nearly 3 scoreless innings in this one.
- With Carlos Estévez and Matt Moore having gone 2 straight (including a blown save on Monday for Estévez), Dominic Leone got the call for The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and came away with his 1st save of the season.
- Evan Phillips got the ugly save for his 15th on the season, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out nobody. Brusdar Graterol got the hold in front of him but he, too, had several baserunners of his own.
Bullpen Depth Charts
The Hold Up: Ranking the Top 100 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday