Rangers await word on severity of Shawn Kelley’s injury

July 22, 2019

Texas Rangers – Shawn Kelley hurt his arm on one of his warm up pitches on Sunday, and was removed from the game before he threw a single pitch. He was sent for an MRI, and we await word on the severity of his injury. If he’s going to miss significant time, then we’re leaning very slightly towards Chris Martin over Jose LeClerc as his replacement. Martin has posted two straight months with a sub-2 ERA and — get this — he hasn’t walked a batter since April (31/0 K/BB ratio since May 1). It’s very possible, though, that Chris Woodward does turn to former closer Leclerc, who does have more experience in the role and has also been pitching well as of late, having struck out 32 hitters in his last 22.2 IP. We’ll send an update if Woodward makes the call today.

Hierarchy remains: Kelley | Martin | Leclerc.

Tampa Bay Rays – A tired Rays bullpen turned to Adam Kolarek for the save opportunity on Sunday, and the lefty converted with a perfect inning of work for his first save of the year. Though the Rays use everybody everywhere, Kolarek will be pretty low on the list of likeliest 9th inning man on most nights.

Hierarchy remains: *Castillo | Pagan | Drake.
* = closer-by-committee


VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today

1. Joakim Soria – Liam Hendriks has gone three straight.
2. Ryan Pressly – Roberto Osuna has gone in three of the last four.

Tomorrow
1. Jeremy Jeffress – If Josh Hader goes tomorrow it’ll be three straight.
2. Kyle Crick – If Felipe Vazquez goes tonight, it’ll be three straight.
3. Sam Dyson – If Will Smith goes tonight, it’ll be back to back and four of five.
4. John Gant/Andrew Miller – If Carlos Martinez goes tonight, it’ll be back to back and three of four.