April 24, 2016
Detroit Tigers — Francisco Rodriguez has been placed on the emergency family medical leave list. It’s unclear how long K-Rod will be out but Mark Lowe and Justin Wilson will see save changes while he out is gone.
Hierarchy remains: Rodriguez | Lowe | J. Wilson.
Cincinnati Reds — Blake Wood pitched pretty well yesterday, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings. However, the fact that he was brought on in the 5th inning with the Reds losing would suggest he isn’t likely to see any save chances soon. Caleb Cotham, who had a 0.00 ERA coming into the night, pitched in the 7th and 8th innings and gave up five baserunners and two earned runs, so that’s not helping his chances of securing save opportunities. Tony Cingrani got the last out of the 8th and then stayed on for a scoreless 9th to finish off a Reds’ blowout victory. Since he pitched the best and latest in the game, we will move Cingrani to the top of the committee. Also, Wood drops off the hierarchy and we will throw Ross Ohlendorf on there for now (mostly because we like his old-school delivery). The Reds bullpen is still a mess, and it will take some time to sort out roles, so we will continue to monitor usage and any comments from manager Bryan Price.
Updated hierarchy: *Cingrani | Cotham | Ohlendorf.
* = closer-by-committee
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Fernando Salas, Los Angeles Angels – Huston Street and Joe Smith have both pitched in three straight.
2. David Hernandez, Philadelphia Phillies – Jeanmar Gomez has pitched in two straight and three of the last four.
3. Ross Ohlendorf, Cincinnati Reds – Tony Cingrani is the only lefty in the Reds’ bullpen so if he is needed before the 9th, Ohlendorf might get the call since Caleb Cotham threw 41 pitches yesterday.