Bullpen Depth Charts: Relievers To Stream — 4/13

Welcome back to our Relievers to Stream for Wins and Saves series! 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:

• The Dodgers and Rockies had a scheduled off day yesterday. Additionally, the Red Sox, Twins, Mariners, Orioles, Phillies, and Mets were postponed. All eight of these teams should have fresh bullpens for today’s games as a result.
• There are 17 games on the slate today, with the Mariners, Orioles, Phillies, and Mets scheduled for double-headers. Look for the possibility of any or all of these bullpens being used differently as they work through two games.

• There are several opportunities for relievers to vulture some wins today, with a handful of starting pitchers less than likely to complete five innings. Zac Gallen will be making his first start of the season after recovering from a hairline fracture in his right forearm. He threw 67 pitches Wednesday in a game at the team’s spring training complex, and he could be on some sort of pitch count today. J.A. Happ, Chad Kuhl, and Dean Kremer have yet to last five innings in a start this season and could come up short again. Nick Margevicius will be making his first start of the year after pitching out of the bullpen in his first two appearances of the season, and could very easily be pulled before five, especially as part of a double-header.

• Keone Kela pitched a scoreless ninth in a four-run victory over his former Pirates. Kela now has seven strikeouts across 4.2 shutout innings. Mark Melancon has a strong hold on the ninth inning, but Kela is making a case for himself over Pagan or Pomeranz if Melancon is ever unavailable.
• Aroldis Chapman finally got his first save of the season, striking out two while giving up one hit to slam the door on the Blue Jays. The hard-throwing lefty has been nothing short of dominant thus far, getting 11 of his 12 outs this season by way of strikeout.

• Despite making things interesting by allowing a walk and a hit, Diego Castillo struck out three batters on his way to another save on the early season. Having thrown 22 and 17 pitches in each of the past two days, he is almost certainly going to be unavailable tonight.
• Yimi García picked up a win after recording the last four outs of an extra innings victory over the Braves. He seems locked into the closer role until further notice. Anthony Bass finished off the seventh inning in relief of starter Sandy Alcantara. After two blown saves in his first three chances, he likely won’t be seeing any more of those opportunities for a while.

• Pitching on a third straight day, Will Smith pitched a perfect ninth inning to preserve a tie and send the game to extras. He will not be available tonight, leaving the door open for someone else to pick up a save. A.J. Minter walked all three batters he faced to start the eighth inning, being credited with two earned runs as they all came around to score, aside from Jon Berti who was caught stealing. After pitching in back-to-back games including this rough appearance last night, Minter is also unlikely to be available tonight. Luke Jackson could therefore be the favorite for a random save tonight, as he recorded 18 of them for Atlanta in 2019.
• Coming in for the final two outs of the game, Josh Hader picked up his first save of the season in a 6-3 win over the Cubs. Hader has now collected two wins and a save through his first three appearances of the year, striking out six while only allowing a walk across 2.2 otherwise perfect innings.

• Brad Hand recorded his second save in as many days, but not before bringing the potential tying run to the plate after giving up a two-out single and walk. He was able to strike out Andrew Knizner to avoid any further trouble. Having now pitched in back-to-back days after just coming off the COVID-IL, Hand will likely be unavailable tonight, setting up Daniel Hudson for a possible save opportunity.
• Entering a tied game in the ninth inning, Emmanuel Clase picked up the loss after a run scored on a throwing error. Clase had given up an infield hit and a walk leading up to the error. The 23-year-old has now pitched in back-to-back days and three of the last four, so Terry Francona might opt to go with Nick Wittgren should a save chance arise tonight.

• Codi Heuer pitched the final 2.1 innings against Cleveland to pick up his first win of the season. The second-year reliever has now struck out seven batters across his last 3.2 innings of shutout ball.
• After José Cisnero got into some trouble in the ninth, Gregory Soto came on to record the final two outs of the game in a non-save situation. After allowing two earned runs on opening day, Soto has since pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, as he continues to fight off Bryan Garcia for the lion’s share of the team’s save chances.

• In what started as a potential save opportunity but ended up being a four-run victory, Jake Diekman came in with two outs in the seventh to preserve the lead, while Lou Trivino pitched the ninth. Bob Melvin seems very open to playing the matchups with his relievers, so while Diekman still appears to be the best bet for saves, this could very well end up being a timeshare of sorts.
• Entering the game after five strong innings from Wade Miley, Tejay Antone pitched 3.2 hitless innings before being taken out of the game just an out shy of the save. He struck out five, and this is just a small taste of his potential if he is ever moved into the starting rotation. Lucas Sims struck out the one batter he faced to pick up his first save of the season.