April 15, 2023
St. Louis Cardinals — With a 3 run lead in the 9th the Cardinals turned the ball over to Giovanny Gallegos who converted for his first save on the year. Gallegos has been stellar this year, allowing no runs and only 1 hit in his 4 appearances. Normally this would hint at the start of a committee, but Helsley is riding a 4 game scoreless streak of his own, including 3 saves. The more interesting news is the emergence of Drew VerHagen, who took down the heart of the Pirates order with only a 1 run lead in the 8th. Verhagen leads the team with 3 holds, and has earned a jump into the hierarchy.
Updated Hierarchy: Helsley | Gallegos | VerHagen.
Milwaukee Brewers – Trivia: Two weeks into the season, who leads the Milwaukee Brewers in saves? If you said Devin Williams you’d be understandably wrong. If you said Joel Payamps because he got the save on Thursday, you’d be less understandably wrong. The correct answer is long reliever Bryse Wilson, who picked up a 3 inning save on April 3rd, and after another 3 inning save last night now leads the Brewers with 2 saves. We said earlier on that Wilson doesn’t normally factor into the late inning plans, but we should maybe add the caveat: Unless the Brewers are up by 10.
Hierarchy remains: Williams | Bush | Strzelecki.
Seattle Mariners – Paul Sewald secured his 3rd save of the season in a clean 9th inning with a pair of strikeouts. This is enough to kick the asterisk, at least until Anthony Munoz returns from the IL. This comes with another shakeup in the hierarchy as Justin Topa secured his first hold on the year, and has now pitched in the 7th or 8th inning of the Mariners last 2 wins.
Updated hierarchy: Sewald | Brash | Topa.
Kansas City Royals – The Royals optioned Dylan Coleman to AAA last night and brought back Josh Staumont. Staumont immediately got the ball in the 7th inning with his team down by 7, so not the highest leverage return. However, he pitched a clean inning and the Royals don’t have a ton of back end bullpen options, so he jumps straight back into the hierarchy.
Updated Hierarchy: Barlow | Chapman | Staumont.
Vulture Save Watch:
- Cionel Perez/Bryan Baker (BAL) — Felix Bautista has pitched back to back games.
- Jorge Lopez/Caleb Theilbar (MIN) — Jhoan Duran has pitched in 3 of 4.
For Sunday:
- Erik Swanson/Yimi Garcia (TOR) — Today would be back to back and 3 of 4 for Jordan Romano
- James Karinchak/Trevor Stephan (CLE) — Same for Emmanual Clase and James Karinchak
- Matt Brash/Justin Topa (SEA) — Same for Paul Sewald and Matt Brash
