April 23, 2023
Philadelphia Phillies – The Vulture Save Watch had Craig Kimbrel listed yesterday and sure enough, Jose Alvarado got the day off as predicted and Kimbrel got the 9th inning. He pitched a perfect inning for his second save of the season. After giving up runs in three of his first four appearances this season, Kimbrel now has six straight scoreless appearances. Alvarado is still the head of the committee at this point but Kimbrel could work his way into more save chances if he continues to pitch like this.
Hierarchy remains: *Alvarado | Kimbrel | Dominguez.
* = closer-by-committee
Houston Astros – Ryan Pressly got the night off after pitching in three of the last four games and the Astros used Rafael Montero in the 8th, where he pitched a scoreless inning for his first hold of the season. That left Bryan Abreu for the save chance in the 9th and he responded with a perfect inning for his first save of the year. Abreu has eight straight scoreless appearances and lowered his ERA to 0.79 after yesterday’s outing. We will slide Abreu up to first in line and see if he can solidify himself as the backup to Pressly.
Updated hierarchy: Pressly | Abreu | Montero.
Pittsburgh Pirates — Duane Underwood Jr. pitched two perfect innings to finish off a 2-1 Pirates win. This was another hit for the Vulture Save Watch as we predicted both David Bednar and Colin Holderman would get the day off after both pitching in back-to-back games.
Hierarchy Remains: Bednar | Holderman | Underwood.
Miami Marlins – AJ Puk pitched a scoreless 9th inning to pick up his fourth save of the season. Puk has recorded the last three saves for the Marlins and four of five total, with the only other save coming on a day he was not available. It’s hard to ignore how good Dylan Floro has been (0.00 ERA, 0.39 WHIP and 10 Ks in 10.1 innings) but he has no save chances on the season so far. There have been match-up reasons, as Floro faced the 3-4-5 hitters in the 8th inning yesterday, but if Puk gets the next save, he will likely kick the committee tag and Floro will just be a dominant set-up man.
Hierarchy remains: *Puk | Floro | Scott.
* = closer-by-committee
Los Angeles Angels – Perhaps we jinxed Jose Quijada by moving him to the head of the committee and mentioning his scoreless streak to start the season. Quijada was called upon for another save opportunity yesterday, but his scoreless start of the season came to a crashing end. Quijada ended up being charged with five earned runs yesterday while he was saddled with a blown save and loss. It was just one bad outing and it was encouraging to see him get the save chance, but we will see if this slip up allows impacts future save opportunities.
Hierarchy remains: *Quijada | Estevez | Moore.
* = closer-by-committee
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Aaron Bummer – Reynaldo Lopez and Kendall Graveman have both pitched in two straight.
2. Carlos Estevez – Jose Quijada has pitched in two straight.
3. Matt Brash – Paul Sewald has pitched in two straight.
4. Luis Garcia/Steven Wilson – Josh Hader has pitched in three of four.
5. Brusdar Graterol – Evan Phillips is on the paternity list.
Monday
1. Tyler Rogers – Camilo Doval threw 23 pitches yesterday so if he pitches again today, he will likely get Monday off.
2. Pierce Johnson – Daniel Bard threw 20 pitches yesterday so if he pitches again today, he will likely get Monday off.