June 19, 2021
Kansas City Royals — After the Royals had the day off on Thursday, they used Scott Barlow in the 8th and then turned to Greg Holland for the 9th inning on Friday. Holland converted the save for his 4th of the year. This save comes right after he gave up 3 runs and took the loss pitching in the 7th inning on Wednesday, so to see him get this save chance, especially with a rested Josh Staumont, was surprising. Staumont has yet to pitch with a lead since returning from the IL, mostly because the Royals have lost 10 of their last 12, but he’s had a small dip in velocity since the injury as well. Based on last night’s usage, we will shift Holland back to the top of the committee, but Staumont isn’t worth dropping just yet.
Updated hierarchy: *Holland | Staumont | Barlow.
* = closer-by-committee
San Francisco Giants – The Giants committee keeps spinning, with Tyler Rogers taking the 8th inning and Jake McGee getting the 9th. McGee converted for his 14th save on the year. This is the second time this week that Rogers has pitched the 8th ahead of McGee, and in his other appearance, he picked up the clear save himself. It seems like McGee has edged ahead of Rogers in the committee, but they are both likely candidates for saves on any given night. In other news, Dominic Leone pitched a clean 7th inning ahead of them for his 3rd hold of the year and has only given up 1 run in June. That is enough to jump into second in line for the Giants.
Updated hierarchy: *McGee | Rogers | Leone.
* = closer-by-committee
Minnesota Twins — Taylor Rogers took the 8th inning and Hansel Robles got the 9th in a tie game. This left the save opportunity to Tyler Duffey when the Twins took the lead in the 10th. This is pretty much how you would expect the twins to use their pitchers in a tie game.
Hierarchy remains: *Robles | Rogers | Duffey.
* = closer-by-committee
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today
1. Carlos Estevez (COL) – Daniel Bard has pitched in back to back and 4 of 5. Estevez has also gone in 3 of 4, but his only pitch last night resulted in a double play.
2. Josh Staumont (KC) – Greg Holland has pitched in 3 of 4, while Josh Staumont did not pitch in last night’s game.
3. Seth Lugo (NYM) – Edwin Diaz has thrown in 2 of 3 and 3 of 5, including 20 pitches last night.
Sunday
1. Cole Sulser/Hunter Harvey (BAL) – Today would be back to back and 3 of 4 for Paul Fry…
2. Jake Diekman (OAK) – … and Lou Trivino …
3. Kyle Crick (PIT) – … and Richard Rodriguez…
4. Josh Sborz (TEX) – …and Ian Kennedy…
5. Kyle Finnegan/Tanner Rainey (WAS) – … and Brad Hand and Tanner Rainey.
