Ryan Zeferjahn shakes off homer, gets third save

Mitch Farris did the heavy lifting here, coming in with a 4-2 lead to start the seventh and getting eight outs before exiting with the bases loaded in the ninth. Zeferjahn walked the first batter he faced, forcing in a run, before striking out Cedric Mullins to end it. Unused tonight was nominal Angels closer Kirby Yates, even though he hadn’t pitched since Tuesday. The walk Zeferjahn issued was his 25th in 32 innings, which is why he isn’t serving as the Angels’ closer right now. Still, he’ll be a candidate for more saves if he’s able to cut down on the free passes.

Zeferjahn struck out two, intentionally walked Joey Loperfido and then got Shay Whitcomb to ground out to strand the automatic runner. That he’s unintentionally walked 21 batters in 31 2/3 innings this season has held him back, but he has an argument for being the Angels’ best reliever. It’d just a better one if he could be trusted at all to throw strikes.

Yates was pitching with a lead for the first time in five appearances since coming off the IL, though that had less to do with his status than the fact that the Angels have done little but trail lately. Up 5-3, they went to Ryan Zerferjahn in the seventh tonight, only to watch him hit back-to-back batters with one out. Sam Bachman came in and, after allowing one inherited runner to score, kept the A’s scoreless through the eighth. That led to Yates taking over in a one-run game, but McNeil sent a ball 364 feet down the right-field line to even things up. The Angels ended up losing in 10. Yates has allowed three runs in five innings since coming off the IL, and his velocity is down a bit more than two mph from last year. He’s probably not going to run away with the closer’s role in Anaheim.

aferjahn took the mound with two outs and a runner on base with a one-run lead in the eighth inning. He struck out the final batter and returned for the ninth. He hit a batter and walked two more to load the bases before ending the game on a groundout for his first save. It was interesting that the team opted not to use Kirby Yates in his first day off the injured list, perhaps wanting to get him lower-leverage work first. Zeferjahn will likely remain in the saves mix, but it’s a situation that’ll be tough to project.

It’s theoretically possible that Yates takes over the closing role in Los Angeles considering Ryan Zeferjahn and Sam Bachman appears to be the only obstacles standing in his way at the moment. However, he got hit hard in a couple rehab outings where his fastball velocity was down considerably. A wait and see approach seems like the correct move here, but Yates is probably worth a speculative roster spot in extremely deep leagues where saves are hard to find on the waiver wire.

Zeferjahn was hit near the hamstring on a comebacker from Josh Naylor, and while he was able to continue for a pair of batters, he clearly wasn’t the same. He’ll likely undergo testing to determine the severity of the injury.

Zeferjahn returns to Los Angeles’ relief mix prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Royals following a two-week absence with right knee tendinitis. The 27-year-old middle reliever has posted a pedestrian 4.77 ERA and 72/33 K/BB ratio across 54 2/3 innings over 59 appearances this season.

No word yet on the extent of the injury or how long the Angels expect Zeferjahn to be shelved for, though it’s possible that it could end his season. The 27-year-old right-hander holds a 4.77 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and a 72/33 K/BB ratio in 54 2/3 innings on the season.

Zeferjahn will be the opener for a bullpen game to open the second half. The 27-year-old will likely go an inning or two before giving way to another reliever, so there’ll be no chance for a win, and no chance to accumulate enough other numbers to justify streaming.

Zeferjahn was part of the four-for-one deal for Luis García last summer, when the Red Sox made their offseason 40-man roster decisions easier by sending he, Niko Kavadas, Matthew Lugo and Yeferson Vargas to the Angels. Vargas was the only one in the group that didn’t need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft last winter, and while it was obviously a terrible trade for the Red Sox, given how poorly Garcia performed, Boston probably wasn’t going to keep everyone anyway. That said, the Red Sox surely now wish they’d given Zeferjahn a look before trading him. He has a 3.61 ERA and a 56/21 K/BB in 47 1/3 innings for the Angels since debuting last August.