Brad Hand day-to-day after a negative MRI on his arm

September 12, 2019

Seattle Mariners — No word on what has happened to Matt Magill. On Wednesday, Sam Tuivailala got the first crack at the save with a two-run lead, and when he ran into trouble, Anthony Bass nailed it down. We’re not sure what’s going on, but we’ll slide Bass up to the top of the committee. After two straight appearances, though, he may get Thursday off.

Updated hierarchy: *Bass | Tuivailala | Magill.
* = closer-by-committee

Cleveland Indians – Brad Hand was unavailable on Wednesday after leaving to get an MRI on his arm; it came back clean, but he’s day-to-day for now and will need to “build back up.” Last night, Terry Francona played ninth-inning mix-and-match with Nick Wittgren, Oliver Perez, and Adam Cimber (who got the save) after using Tyler Clippard and Nick Goody earlier. Clippard is on the rise; he’s been as unhittable as ever (.171 BAA), and hopefully, last night’s home run doesn’t augur a return to longball generosity (1.55 HR/9 the last three seasons).

Updated hierarchy: Hand | Goody | Clippard.

Atlanta Braves — It was nine pitches, nine strikes for Chris Martin, the seventh immaculate inning of 2019 and 99th in history. NBC Sports greeted the news with a record-setting slew of terrible Coldplay puns, taking the crown in that genre from, uh, us. And, um, also us. Oh, and don’t forget us.

Hierarchy remains: Melancon | Greene | Jackson.

Texas Rangers — We told you about Emmanuel Clase a few weeks back, and since then, he’s been getting more high-leverage work for Texas while Shawn Kelley has slipped out of favor.

Updated hierarchy: Leclerc | Montero | Clase.

VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Bryan Shaw — Jairo Diaz and Carlos Estevez have each appeared in two straight, three of four, and four of six.
2. Rafael Montero — It’s been two straight for Jose Leclerc (35 pitches).
3. Sam Tuivailala/Matt Magill — Same for Anthony Bass.

Friday:
1. Nick Goody — The Indians have Thursday off, but Brad Hand likely won’t be ready by Friday.
2. Shawn Armstrong — Michael Givens threw 32 pitches on Wednesday and is unlikely to go in three straight.
3. Shane Greene — Same with Mark Melancon (27 pitches).
4. Ryne Stanek — Jose Urena has pitched in two of three.