August 22, 2015
Texas Rangers — The Rangers are pleased with the performance of their bullpen lately, and Keone Kela has been a big part of that, returning from his rest in the minors with six straight scoreless outings (four holds). Friday night saw Kela pitch a scoreless eighth in a tight 2-0 game. Sam Dyson and Jake Diekman are still vital late-inning cogs, but because Diekman is a lefty, he’s more likely to get used in the middle innings if an important matchup arises.
Updated hierarchy: Tolleson | Kela | Dyson.
Seattle Mariners — Despite being abjectly terrible at baseball (5.68 ERA, 7.9 K-BB%, -0.8 WAR), Fernando Rodney (golden chinstrap edition) somehow leads Seattle in appearances and innings pitched after another debacle on Friday. It’s natural to blame Lloyd McClendon, though Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times claims that the manager asked to DFA Rodney over a month ago. Unless Rodney does get cut, we don’t see a way to drop him from the hierarchy completely, not with the human flotsam backing him up. How the mighty have fallen.
Updated hierarchy: Smith | Farquhar | Rodney.
Minnesota Twins – Sure enough, with Glen Perkins unavailable with neck problems, Kevin Jepsen got the save chance and converted with three strikeouts. Trevor May paved the way with a clean eighth.
Hierarchy remains: Perkins | Jepsen | May.
Milwaukee Brewers — $11 million albatross Kyle Lohse earned his first save in a 15-year, 445-game career on Friday night, by pitching the last three innings of a 10-3 Brewers victory.
Hierarchy remains: Rodriguez | Smith | Jeffress.
Pearland (TX) West All-Stars — Isaac Garcia broke up a perfect game with a home run to center field, then made the win stand up with 1.2 scoreless innings to open the Little League World Series for the Southwest representatives. Manager Andrew Solomon praised Garcia for his consistency before the series began, and because the diminutive righty kept his pitch count low, Garcia could be called on for another save as early as Sunday.
Hierarchy remains: Garcia | Gottfried | Tadlock.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Kevin Jepsen/Trevor May, Minnesota Twins — Perkins won’t be back until Tuesday at the earliest.
2. Xavier Cedeno/Alex Colome, Tampa Bay Rays — Brad Boxberger has pitched in three of four games, including a hard-fought 33-pitch save on Friday. Cedeno could get a shot, as could Colome, who has impressed since his move to the bullpen.
3. Bryan Shaw, Cleveland Indians — Cody Allen has pitched in two straight (40 pitches).
