July 25, 2020
Buffalo Blue Jays — Up three in the eighth on Opening Day, the Jays turned to Rafael Dolis, who served three rocky weeks as the Cubs closer in May 2012, but got the job done for the last four years for the Hanshin Tigers. His return to MLB was reminiscent of his term in Wrigley, giving up a run and loading the bases before escaping with the lead. Shun Yamaguchi is likely to get some low-leverage outings to start his Blue Jay career, so we’ll add Dolis to the hierarchy, for now.
Updated hierarchy: Giles | Bass | Dolis.
Texas Rangers — A strong spring for 24-year-old Jonathan Hernandez earned him the eighth in a one-run game, and the rookie responded with a scoreless, two-strikeout inning. Hernandez will probably crack the rotation next season, but this year, it looks like he’ll get some high-leverage looks.
Updated hierarchy: Leclerc | Hernandez | Chavez.
Oakland A’s — Half-credit in our Twitter contest to MiketheMayor1, who counterintuitively tabbed “Hendricks” for the first blown save of 2020. If spelling matters, though, Kyle pitched a shutout, while Liam Hendriks gave up a game-tying home run, then loaded the bases before escaping, allowing the A’s to be the first team to win an extra-inning game under the new runner-on-second regime. Meanwhile, Yusmeiro Petit pitched the fifth, so we’ll keep an eye on this hierarchy going forward.
Hierarchy remains: Hendriks | Petit | Soria.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Andrew Miller — Kwang Hyun Kim had some struggles picking up his first save on Friday, and might not go back-to-back.
2. Yusmeiro Petit/Joakim Soria — In that blown save noted above, Liam Hendriks threw 28 pitches.
3. Ty Buttrey/Keynan Middleton — Hansel Robles needed 25 pitches on Friday.
Sunday:
1. Anthony Bass — Ken Giles threw 20 pitches on Friday.
2. Nick Wittgren — So did Brad Hand.
3. Jonathan Hernandez/Jesse Chavez — Jose Leclerc needed 23 to get his save.
