April 9, 2022
Tampa Bay Rays — The Rays got started on chasing down last year’s record of 12 different relievers to get a save on Friday. Andrew Kittridge took the 8th inning against the heart of the Baltimore order, which left the 9th for JP Feyereisen. Feyereisen got 2 quick outs before giving up a single and getting pulled for Brooks Raley. Raley struck out the only batter he faced to earn the first Rays save of the season. Raley spent the last two season in Houston where he was mostly deployed as a lefty specialist. Tampa Bay is always an enigma, but Raley is probably a few more high leverage spots from cracking their normal hierarchy.
Hierarchy Remains: Kittridge* | Chargois | Feyereisen
San Francisco Giants – Despite Gabe Kapler tapping Jake McGee as the closer to start the season it was Camilo Doval who got the first save chance for the Giants. Context is important here, as McGee was brought into the 8th inning of a 1 run game to face the 3-4-5 hitters of the Marlins. Doval got an insurance run to work with, but couldn’t shut the door and was in line for the loss after giving up 3 runs in the top of the 9th, but the Giants would go on to win in the 10th inning. Seeing the nominal closer in the 8th inning isn’t too surprising, so we don’t read too much into this usage, but we still expect Doval to bounce back and work his way into more save situations this year.
Hierarchy Remains: *McGee | Doval | Rogers.
Baltimore Orioles — If you’re reading the tea leaves of the Baltimore bullpen, yesterday left things as cloudy as ever. Dillon Tate pitched a clean 7th inning of a tie game. He stayed for 1 batter in the 8th, who singled and Tate was lifted for Jorge Lopez. Lopez didn’t get hit very hard, but a sacrifice fly put Tate on the hook for the loss. Paul Fry retired the only batter he faced. One name that didn’t make it into yesterdays game, but is worth keeping an eye on is Felix Bautista, who has an overpowering fastball and may demand high leverage spots sooner rather than later. It’s safe to say that this is a going to be a committee approach, and its probably best to stay away until the dust clears a bit.
Updated hierarchy: Tate* | Fry | Lopez.
Vulture Save Watch:
- Will Smith (ATL) – Kenley Jansen threw 30 pitches last night in a rough outing, and may not pitch back to back games this early in the season.
- Kendall Graveman (CHW) – Liam Hendricks also had a bad outing yesterday, throwing 33 pitches and taking the loss. If he gets a day off it should be Graveman who gets the look.