June 26, 2023
St. Louis Cardinals – Although last night wasn’t his smoothest outing, Jordan Hicks picked up his 4th straight save for the Cardinals. Although St. Louis has a good amount of depth in their bullpen, this is plenty to kick the asterisk, as Hicks has shaken off a rough start to the year to become the clear option for the redbirds.
Hierarchy remains: Hicks | Gallegos | VerHagen.
New York Yankees — Michael King may have been off the hierarchy, but the Vulture Save Watch picked him as the best chance to pull a save last night. Score one for the VSW, as he got the ball with a 2 run lead, and worked a scoreless inning for his 5th save on the year. King needed a good outing badly, having given up runs in 5 of his last 6 appearances before last night. Maybe this is the start of him righting the ship, but given how heavily worked the Yankees bullpen had been, we will leave the hierarchy in place.
Hierarchy remains: *Holmes | Kahnle | Peralta.
* = closer-by-committee
Milwaukee Brewers — The Brewers used Joel Payamps to pitch the 7th and 8th innings of a tie game, while Devin Williams took the 9th. When a save opportunity appeared in the 10th, it was Elvis Peguero who got the call. Peguero stranded the ghost runner to pick up the first save of his career. Peguero has been a solid option for Milwaukee since coming over in the Hunter Renfroe trade, but may not have gotten the chance if both Matt Bush and Peter Strzelecki weren’t coming off back to back appearances. Payamps however has clearly jumped up in the hierarchy as the main set up man ahead of Devin Williams, and we will adjust accordingly.
Updated hierarchy: Williams | Payamps | Bush.
Chicago White Sox – With the White Sox holding a 3 run lead and the hierarchy needing a rest, they turned to Keynan Middleton for the 9th inning. Middleton pitched a perfect inning for his second save on the year. Middleton has had an up and down June, but is rounding into form right as the trade deadline approaches.
Hierarchy remains: *Graveman | Kelly | Lopez.
* = closer-by-committee
Arizona Diamondbacks — Scott McGough got called on to put out a fire in the 8th inning, and with some help from a baserunning error, he escaped only letting 1 inherited runner score. He stuck around for the 9th to earn a 4 out save, his 4th in a row for the Diamondbacks. While he made this one interesting, he got the job done and has done enough to kick the asterisk.
Hierarchy remains: McGough | Chafin | Castro.
Houston Astros – With Bryan Abreu needing the night off and the rest of the hierarchy already having pitched, the Astros turned to Seth Martinez to close out a game in the 11th inning. A timely strikeout put him in position to strand the ghost runner, and a groundout earned him his first career save. Martinez doesn’t normally factor into the late inning plans.
Updated hierarchy: Pressly | Abreu | Neris.
Vulture Save Watch:
- Joe Jiminez (ATL) — The entire Atlanta hierarchy has pitched in back to back and 3 of 4.
- Jason Foley (DET) — Alex Lange has thrown 52 pitches over the past 2 days.
- Yennier Cano (BAL) — Felix Bautista has pitched in back to back games.
For Tuesday:
- Buck Farmer (CIN) — Today would be back to back and 3 of 4 for Alexi Diaz.
- Brock Stewart/Griffin Jax (MIN) — Same for Jhoan Duran.