July 26, 2015
Toronto Blue Jays — Aaron Sanchez was activated from the DL on Saturday and immediately inserted into an important spot for the Blue Jays’ bullpen. He pitched a scoreless 8th in a tie game and ended up getting the win after the Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 9th. Roberto Osuna pitched a scoreless 9th for his 5th save of the season. With Steve Delabar getting sent down, Sanchez will replace him on the Blue Jays’ hierarchy and could be an option to close games if Osuna struggles at all.
Updated hierarchy: Osuna | Schultz | Sanchez
St. Louis Cardinals — Randy Choate recorded the last two outs of a 1-0 Cardinals win on Saturday to pick up his 1st save of the season. Seth Maness started the 9th, but the lefty-specialist Choate was brought on to face a couple of lefties to finish the game. Kevin Siegrist recorded a 25 pitch save on Friday so he was likely unavailable yesterday, and manager Mike Matheny gave regular closer Trevor Rosenthal a second night off in a row, after he was convinced to pitch him a third consecutive day on Thursday.
Hierarchy remains: Rosenthal | Siegrist | Maness.
Seattle Mariners — We finally remove the asterisk from Carson Smith and how does he repay us? He has his worst outing of the season. Smith allowed two runs on two hits and two walks without recording an out and took the loss on Saturday. Luckily for Smith, Fernando Rodney also allowed two runs on Saturday. However, another outing like this one from Smith, and Rodney and Mark Lowe could enter the conversation for save chances moving forward.
Hierarchy remains: Smith | Rodney | Lowe.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Fernando Rodney/Mark Lowe, Seattle Mariners – Carson Smith has pitched in three straight. Rodney could get the call on Sunday if necessary but he has pitched in two of the last three, including a 21 pitch outing where he gave up 2 runs yesterday.
2. Keone Kela/Tanner Scheppers, Texas Rangers – Shawn Tolleson has appeared in two straight and four of the last five games
