July 6, 2021
Miami Marlins – For the last two years, Anthony Bender pitched in the independent leagues, but he’s now in the bigs and his slider is living up to his name. With Yimi Garcia — and several other of their top relievers — unavailable on Monday, Bender picked up his first career save. The 26-year-old righty, who started his career with 22 scoreless innings, now has a 0.68 ERA on the season. Expect to see him in more high-leverage spots going forward, as he has the numbers and the stuff to take the job from Garcia should the latter continue to struggle. With a backstory like his, we’re excited to see what Bender can do and for the endless supply of Bender Bending Rodriguez jokes we can put in future updates that only like 4 percent of our readership will understand.
Updated hierarchy: Garcia | Bender | Floro.
Minnesota Twins – Hansel Robles picked up his 8th save of the season, pitching after Taylor Rogers had entered in a tight spot (1 out in the 7th with the tying run on) and pitched 1.2 perfect innings with four strikeouts. All things considered, Rogers is still the most likely guy to get a save on any given night, but Robles could still get his chances.
Hierarchy remains: *Rogers | Robles | Colome.
* = closer-by-committee
New York Mets – Trevor May got the 8th inning ahead of Edwin Diaz on Monday night, and logged his 10th consecutive scoreless outing. After a rough stretch in the spring, May has righted the ship and should continue to get high-leverage innings going forward.
Updated hierarchy: Diaz | Lugo | May.
Boston Red Sox – Matt Barnes got the day off after throwing 33 pitches on Sunday, so Adam Ottavino picked up the save. We told you this would happen yesterday, of course. (VSW FTW!)
Hierarchy remains: Barnes | Ottavino | Taylor.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Tyler Duffey – Hansel Robles and Taylor Rogers have gone back to back.
2. Genesis Cabrera/Ryan Helsley – Alex Reyes and Gio Gallegos have gone back to back.
3. Austin Voth – Brad Hand has gone back to back.
Tomorrow
1. Seth Lugo – If Edwin Diaz goes tonight, it’s back to back.