July 3, 2016
St. Louis Cardinals — Seung Hwan Oh pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to record his first career save. Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless eighth inning ahead of Oh. Another clean save from Oh could drop the committee talk and leave him as the primary closer.
Hierarchy remains: *Oh | Broxton | Rosenthal.
* = closer-by-committee
Colorado Rockies — Jake McGee was activated from the DL on Saturday. He started the seventh inning with the Rockies down three runs, and struck out the first batter he faced. Unfortunately, he gave up a double and walk to the next two batters and got pulled after throwing 22 pitches. Manager Walt Weiss has not said whether or not McGee would regain the closer’s role. Carlos Estevez has pitched well in McGee absence, and we will leave him in the closer spot for now (and as of this post, Denver Post readers agree). We will continue to monitor this and let you know when Weiss announces his plans moving forward.
Updated hierarchy: Estevez | McGee| Motte.
Seattle Mariners — Former starter Nathan Karns pitched the last three innings of a Mariners’ blowout win and earned his first career save. Karns does not factor into the Mariners normal late inning plans.
Hierarchy remains: Cishek | Benoit | Diaz.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Neftali Feliz, Pittsburgh Pirates – Mark Melancon has pitched in two straight
2. Jason Grilli/Drew Storen, Toronto Blue Jays – Roberto Osuna has pitched in two straight and four of five. Jason Grilli has also pitched in two straight so Storen could get the call if the Blue Jays decide to rest him as well on Sunday.