Riley O’Brien converts save against Rockies

O’Brien entered with a one-run lead and got himself into a two-on, one-out jam. He got the next two batters out and picked up the save. O’Brien had blown his last two save opportunities with his last save coming on September 4 against the Rockies, 10 days ago. He had 24 saves in the first half of the season and made the All-Star team for the first time in his career. Since then, he has a 5.40 ERA and 13 saves in the second half.

Soriano gave up a single and two walks before getting Colson Montgomery to fly out to end the game. Soriano’s last five appearances have seen him earn two saves in place of Riley O’Brien but also take two losses. O’Brien, who was down today after pitching both Friday and Saturday, should be available to close on Monday.

O’Brien came on to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning. He walked Kyle Teel to start the inning before striking out the next two batters. Then Randal Grichuk hit a two-run home run that turned out to be the game-winner. O’Brien has blown eight saves this year, including three in his last five appearances. He has a 4.20 ERA this year.

Working with a one-run lead, O’Brien intentionally walked Rafael Devers to start the inning and then gave up a game-tying single to Bryce Eldridge afterwards. He ended up preventing further damage, though. After a sac bunt and another intentional walk to load the bases, Drew Gilbert barely tapped a ball in front of home plate. It would have rolled foul, but Leo Bernal did a great job pouncing on it, touching home and then throwing to first for the double play. This blown save shouldn’t hurt O’Brien’s standing at all.

O’Brien has given up 10 runs in his last five appearances, taking his ERA from 2.96 to 4.18. The Cardinals have no desire to replace him in the closer’s role, so he’ll probably be left there for now. However, another bad outing right away might not leave them with any choice but to make a move.

The Cardinals scored three times in the top of the inning to give O’Brien some margin for error. He’s often needed that recently, but he retired all three batters he faced tonight. The unearned run was produced by a passed ball and a groundout.

O’Brien gave up one run to take a loss in a tie game last night and six runs in a blown save/loss Sunday against the Phillies, but he had an easy time in an 11-pitch ninth today. He leads the National League and is third in the majors with his 34 saves. With O’Brien and George Soriano both having pitched back-to-back days, Ryne Stanek might be in line for a save chance on Friday.

This one wasn’t nearly as bad as Sunday’s six-run massacre, but it still hurts some. O’Brien gave up a leadoff single to Samuel Basallo on a grounder towards third that would have been handled if the infield hadn’t been shifted over and then a go-ahead double to Christian Encarnacion-Strand before retiring the next three batters to keep it a one-run game. The Cardinals, though, couldn’t pick him up. It’s O’Brien’s sixth loss to go along with five blown saves. Still, he was pitching so well in the month prior to Sunday’s outing that his closer’s role should be safe for now.

All six runs scored with two outs. O’Brien loaded the bases before allowing a three-run double to Edmundo Sosa, and Bryan De La Cruz followed with a game-tying hit. That set the stage for Kyle Schwarber’s walk-off homer on O’Brien’s 39th pitch of the inning. The Cardinals’ closer hadn’t allowed a run this month until Sunday’s meltdown.

The Cardinals got O’Brien up when they took the lead in the ninth today but then sat him down after going ahead by five runs. They instead went to George Soriano, who has been very reliable this year. Soriano, though, walked three and gave up a hit while getting two outs. O’Brien entered a save situation with the score 10-6 and gave up a two-run single to Sal Stewart before walking two to make it 10-9. Matt McLain, already with a grand slam on the day, came up again with the bases loaded, but his hard liner to right was caught to end the game. O’Brien threw 15 pitches today while working for the third time in four days, so he might be down Friday. Soriano would normally be the fallback, but he’ll almost certainly be rested, too. It might be Gordon Graceffo’s time to shine.