July 21, 2016
Boston Red Sox — As expected, Brad Ziegler was named the Boston closer now that Koji Uehara has joined Craig Kimbrel on the disabled list. Although Matt Barnes and Robbie Ross, Jr. are backing Ziegler up in the late innings, Ross entered in the fourth on Wednesday night, while Barnes pitched the sixth, seventh, and eighth. Heath Hembree is another late-inning option, but if the Red Sox don’t want to release Clay Buchholz, Hembree will likely be demoted when Junichi Tazawa rejoins the team on Friday. Uehara tweeted (in Japanese) that he expects to be out for a month.
Hierarchy remains: Ziegler | Barnes | Ross.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Hector Neris, Philadelphia Phillies — Jeanmar Gomez has gone three in a row.
2. Justin Wilson, Detroit Tigers — K-Rod took the loss in a rough 25-pitch outing last night, and has pitched in three of four.
3. Fernando Abad, Minnesota Twins — Brandon Kintzler has pitched in two straight (41 pitches).
4. Jonathan Broxton, St. Louis Cardinals — Seung Hwan Oh saved both ends of Wednesday’s doubleheader, and Kevin Siegrist appeared in both games also.
