Reliever Ranks – 9/23

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

 

• Only four teams had Thursday off as 13 games were played. Out of action were DET, NYM, MIA, and WSN.
• All 30 teams are in action today.
• The Twins have yet to announce a starter for tonight with several starters on the IL. Their bullpen is well positioned to shoulder the load should they go that route, with only Jovani Moran and possibly Aaron Sanchez unavailable. Ronny Henriquez is the most likely to give them multiple innings.
• The Diamondbacks haven’t announced a starter for Friday as they are short due to using two in Tuesday’s doubleheader with the Dodgers. Unless they activate someone, Caleb Smith seems most likely for multiple innings, although he threw 45 pitches on Tuesday.

 

• The Dodgers activated Brusdar Graterol from the IL on Thursday. Graterol has only made four appearances since early July due to elbow inflammation. The Dodgers may initially opt to keep him out of high leverage situations as they currently have several more reliable options.
• The Yankees placed Wandy Peralta on the 15-Day IL, meaning his regular season is pretty much over. Peralta will probably be back for the playoffs, though, as his back injury isn’t considered serious. Correspondingly, New York activated Scott Effross and Zack Britton. Effross should slide into Peralta’s spot in the bullpen hierarchy, but Britton hasn’t pitched in the majors for over a year, so we’ll wait before adding him to the chart.
• David Bednar came off the IL yesterday with Eric Stout taking his place. Bednar should resume his closer duties even though he’s been out since the end of July. We pushed Wil Crowe down to Setup, Duane Underwood Jr. to a hold option, and Manny Bañuelos off the grid to make room for him.

 

 

KCR 4 – MIN 1

• Jonathan Heasley won his fourth game after giving the Royals six innings and only allowing one run. Collin Snider, Carlos Hernández, and Brad Keller covered an inning each to close the game, with Snider and Hernandez earning holds and Keller his first save. The converted starter got the opportunity as Scott Barlow, Dylan Coleman, and Amir Garrett had all pitched in back-to-back games.
• Josh Winder allowed three runs over six innings before handing off to Jovani Moran. Moran labored through the final two innings, allowing a run off four hits.

 

TEX 5 – LAA 3

• The Rangers got six innings out of Martín Pérez, who left with the score tied at three. Jonathan Hernández, Matt Moore, and José Leclerc threw an inning each in relief. Moore won his fifth game of the year as the pitcher of record when the Rangers took the lead in the eighth inning. Leclerc struck out the side to earn his seventh save, though he did give up a double to Shohei Ohtani. Leclerc and Moore have thrown the past two games, so Hernandez could see a vulture save opportunity tonight if the situation warrants it.
• Michael Lorenzen held the Rangers to one run over five innings but ran into trouble in the sixth. After a single and a walk to start the inning, Lorenzen handed off to Aaron Loup. Loup got the first out but then allowed three singles in a row which tied the game and sent him to the showers. Andrew Wantz got the final out of the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh. Corey Seager broke the tie off José Quijada in the eighth with a two-run HR that proved to be the difference.

 

SFG 3 – COL 0

• The Giants shut the Rockies out with a bullpen game in Colorado. How embarrassing. Six San Francisco hurlers went to work on Thursday afternoon, including John Brebbia, Tyler Rogers, Jarlín García, Jharel Cotton, Scott Alexander, and Camilo Doval. Garcia and Cotton were the only two to go more than an inning. Cotton got the “W” as the pitcher of record, Alexander earned a hold, and Doval took home his 24th save.
• José Ureña started for Colorado and allowed only one run through the first five innings. In the sixth, Justin Lawrence replaced him with two outs after he surrendered a home run to Mike Yastrzemski, a single, and a walk. He got out of the sixth but gave up a run of his own the following inning. Carlos Estévez and Chad Smith covered the final two frames without further damage.

 

SEA 9 – OAK 5

• The Mariners staked George Kirby with a 3-0 lead, but the rookie ran into trouble and couldn’t make it out of the third inning. By the time the inning was through, five runs had scored, with the last coming after Matt Brash had replaced the starter. After this debacle of an inning, the Mariners bullpen came to the rescue, throwing six shutout innings to finish the game. Matthew Boyd covered the fourth and fifth and earned the win when the Mariners pulled ahead in the top of the sixth. Following Boyd were scoreless innings by Paul Sewald, Diego Castillo, Penn Murfee, and Andrés Muñoz. Sewald and Castillo earned holds before the offense stretched the lead to four. Munoz and Castillo may not be available tonight, having gone in back-to-back games.
• Adrian Martinez left the contest after Ty France tripled off him to start the sixth inning, clinging to a one-run lead. That evaporated quickly after Jarred Kelenic doubled off Kirby Snead two batters later. Another double knocked Snead from the game, and Norge Ruiz replaced him and got the last out of the inning. Ruiz stayed on for the seventh, and the Mariners scored again, assisted by a wild pitch. In the eighth, it was Austin Pruitt’s turn, and, not to break tradition, he gave up another run to Seattle. At least Jared Koenig pitched a scoreless ninth for Oakland.

 

STL 5 – SDP 4

• Jack Flaherty won his first game of the year after allowing three runs (two earned) over six innings to the Padres. The recently-demoted Steven Matz earned his first hold by pitching a scoreless seventh. With the heart of the Padres’ order coming up in the eighth, St. Louis turned to Ryan Helsley, and the closer gave up a lead-off homer to Manny Machado. Helsley finished the inning without further damage, and Giovanny Gallegos closed the game for his 14th save.
• Joe Musgrove only allowed one run over five innings before heading to the showers despite only throwing 72 pitches. Adrian Morejon replaced him and put two men on in the top of the seventh with one out. In came Nick Martinez, who walked Tommy Edman to load the bases. Next, Brendan Donovan stepped to the plate and promptly hit a grand slam which changed the course of the game. Pierce Johnson and Tim Hill covered the final two frames with the Friars now trailing, but the offense couldn’t complete the comeback.

 

MIL 5 – CIN 1

• Brandon Woodruff improved to 12-4 after allowing only one run over six innings. Peter Strzelecki earned a hold with a scoreless seventh, while Matt Bush and Jake Cousins shut down the Reds in the eighth and ninth.
• Hunter Greene made his second start since coming off the IL and pitched well over five innings, allowing only a two-run HR to Kolten Wong. Dauri Moreta replaced him and followed suit by allowing another two-run HR to Kolten Wong. Joel Kuhnel took over in the bottom of the seventh and in the eighth gave up a home run to, you guessed it, Kolten Wong. If Kolten Wong got to face the Reds every game, he’d hit 486 homers in a season. Hunter Strickland pitched the ninth for the Reds and happily did not have to face Kolten Wong.

 

BAL 2 – HOU 0

• Kyle Bradish nearly completed a complete game shutout but was pulled after giving up a two-out single in the top of the ninth. Félix Bautista struck out Aledmys Díaz to end the game and earn his 15th save.
• Justin Verlander was a hard-luck loser after allowing two runs over six innings. Ryne Stanek and Will Smith added scoreless innings, but the Astros couldn’t solve Kyle Bradish on this night.

 

CHC 3 – PIT 2

• Hayden Wesneski held the Bucs to one run over six innings but came out shortly after Kevin Newman homered off him to start the seventh. Wesneski still earned the victory as Brandon Hughes and Mark Leiter Jr. combined to keep the Pirates from tying the game. It wasn’t easy for Hughes, who earned his sixth hold despite loading the bases and being pulled in favor of Leiter, who got his third save.
• The Pirates got a quality start from Mitch Keller, who left trailing 2-1. Fresh off the IL, David Bednar started the seventh and was rusty in his return. He allowed a run to score off two hits and a walk. Duane Underwood Jr. and Robert Stephenson threw scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, but a comeback was not in the works for Pittsburgh.

 

PHI 1 – ATL 0

• Ranger Suárez outdueled Max Fried to win his tenth game of the year. Suarez blanked the Braves over six innings, and Zach Eflin and José Alvarado followed suit, completing the shutout. Eflin, who just returned from the IL as a reliever recently, notched his first hold. Alvarado took home his second save.
• The Phillies made Max Fried work hard. Fried threw 107 pitches in only five innings, allowing one run. That run was all the Phils would need, and all they’d get as Dylan Lee and A.J. Minter held them scoreless over the final three frames.

 

TBR 10 – TOR 5

• The Rays bullpen notched a victory over the Blue Jays as seven different relievers combined for the win, which was in no small part due to the offense. JT Chargois was the opener and allowed a run off a George Springer triple and a Bo Bichette double. Ryan Yarbrough came next and gave up solo HRs to Teoscar Hernández and Whit Merrifield, then exited with an oblique injury. Sympathetic, the official scorer awarded him the victory. After that, the Rays’ relievers settled down as Garrett Cleavinger, Shawn Armstrong, Brooks Raley, and Colin Poche combined to shut the Jays down over the next five innings. Cleavinger earned his first hold before the score ballooned. By the time Dusten Knight came on in the eighth, the Rays had scored ten runs. So it was no biggie when Whit Merrifield slugged his second HR of the night off him in the ninth. Raley, Chargois, and Poche have worked a lot lately and may not be available tonight.
• José Berríos did not have a fun evening, getting tagged for six runs in two innings. Trevor Richards relieved him in the third, and the Rays chased him in the fourth when three more runs came across. Richards was charged with all three, although the last was scored after Zach Pop had replaced him. The Rays added another run off David Phelps in the sixth before Foster Griffin threw two scoreless frames in mop-up duty.

 

CLE 4 – CHW 2

• Shane Bieber was cruising with a 4-1 lead into the eighth, but Gavin Sheets greeted him with a home run to start the inning. Four batters and a double later, Trevor Stephan came in to get the final out and earn his 17th hold. Uber-closer Emmanuel Clase finished the Chisox off with a one-two-three ninth for his 37th save.
• Johnny Cueto battled through six innings, allowing four runs, one of which was unearned. Jake Diekman, Aaron Bummer, and Reynaldo López did their best, allowing only one baserunner over the final three innings. Unfortunately for the White Sox, the offense couldn’t make it happen.

 

NYY 5 – BOS 4 (10 innings)

• The Yankees clinched a playoff spot after the bullpen almost spoiled six scoreless innings from Jameson Taillon. Clarke Schmidt was the guilty party, allowing two homers in the seventh, including a three-run shot by Reese McGuire, which gave the Sox the lead. Aroldis Chapman took over in the eighth, but after back-to-back walks, Lou Trivino had to finish the inning. Clay Holmes threw a scoreless ninth and tenth, earning the win when Josh Donaldson walked the game off with a single. As Holmes pitched two innings, he may not be available tonight, although he only threw 20 pitches.
• Michael Wacha also threw six innings, but he allowed three runs. John Schreiber took over in the seventh with the Red Sox now on top and earned a hold with a scoreless inning. Ryan Brasier lost the lead for the Red Sox in the eighth after the Yanks manufactured a run out of a lead-off single by Giancarlo Stanton. After a Matt Barnes scoreless ninth, Kaleb Ort took the loss after allowing the inherited runner to score off the Donaldson single.

 

ARI 2 – LAD 1

• Julio Urías pitched well for L.A., allowing only one run and three hits before exiting with a runner on second and one out in the sixth. Evan Phillips relieved him and finished the inning with a couple of Ks. Alex Vesia kept the strikeout brigade going, fanning all three batters he faced in the seventh. After a freshly activated Brusdar Graterol threw a clean eighth, Craig Kimbrel took the mound with the score tied in the ninth. Christian Walker broke the tie with his 36th home run. Kimbrel’s “L” turned into a “W,” however, when the Dodgers mounted a comeback in the bottom of the inning.
• Zac Gallen dominated for eight innings, allowing only one run off two hits and striking out 13 Dodgers. But he didn’t get a chance to finish the game as Torey Lovullo decided to trot Dodgers castoff Reyes Moronta out in the ninth to seal the deal. Moronta loaded the bases with only one out and was pulled in favor of Joe Mantiply. After a Max Muncy infield single tied the game, Mantiply struck Justin Turner out, setting up a showdown with some guy named Mookie Betts. Predictably, Betts came through, knocking a walk-off single to left, ending the game.

 

Bullpen Depth Charts

 

 

Also, if you’re looking for a detailed list or ranking of RPs, check out Rick Graham’s weekly pieces:

The Hold Up: Ranking the Top 100 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday

Closing Time: Ranking the Top 30 Closers

Top 100 Relievers for Save+Hold Leagues

 

Photos by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Doug Carlin (@Bdougals on Twitter)