Angels activate Sam Bachman from injured list

Bachman hits the shelf after telling reporters that he was dealing with some arm fatigue over the weekend. The 26-year-old holds a serviceable 4.14 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 46/27 K/BB ratio across 45 2/3 innings over 41 relief appearances in the big leagues this season. There’s a chance he’s done for the season with less than two months left on the calendar.

Bachman left Sunday’s appearance against the Brewers after picking up just one out and issuing a walk. The right-hander believes he’ll be ok, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he missed a couple more days at least.

The Angels again used Ryan Zeferjahn in the eighth tonight, and he allowed one run to narrow the Angels’ lead to 4-2. José Fermin got the ball to start the ninth, but he retired just one of four batters, thanks to a HBP and a Vaughn Grissom error. Bachman took over afterwards and walked two, hit a batter and committed an error on a roller hit right to him. Two ugly flops in two days should take Bachman out of the ninth-inning mix for a spell and perhaps restore Kirby Yates to late-game duty. Zeferjahn remains the Angels’ most interesting reliever, but as long as Kurt Suzuki keeps managing like this, it’s hard to justify playing anyone in the bunch.

With the heart of the order coming up, the Angels used Ryan Zeferjahn with a three-run lead in the eighth today. He retired three out of four hitters to set up Sam Bachman for the save chance. Bachman, though, walked two of the three batters he faced, throwing just seven of his 18 pitches for strikes. Farris replaced him and gave up a two-run double to Luis Arraez with two outs before striking out Heliot Ramos to end the game. Both runs were charged to Bachman, of course. Farris’s first save came in his 22nd relief appearance this year. Zeferjahn still looks like the favorite for saves in Anaheim right now.

Bachman was asked to protect a two-run lead, and couldn’t after giving up a two-run homer to Jonah Heim. Kirby Yates also struggled in the 10th, walking and hitting a batter before exiting and taking the loss after Nick Kurtz drew a free pass with the bases loaded. Bachman could get more save chances, but it’s far from a guarantee, and fantasy managers need to be awfully desperate to consider him an option in leagues.

Bachman has emerged as one of the Angels’ most trusted relievers and was working on a streak of 12 straight scoreless appearances before giving up his third and fourth homers of the season today. It seems like a setback for his chances of earning saves and probably gives Kirby Yates’ scant fantasy value a little boost.

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.

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.

The Angels already had a lefty in the game in Brent Suter, but they wanted to put in more of a power guy to face Caglianone’s power. What followed was a 109-mph homer. The Angels took another blown save in the 10th, as Joey Lucchesi, pitching with a one-run lead in the Angels debut, gave up a three-run homer to lose the game. The Halos’ pen is even more of a mess now with Jordan Romano gone. Maybe Kirby Yates or Ben Joyce will eventually fix things in the ninth, but no one seems trustworthy at the moment. If one absolutely had to roster a currently active Angels reliever, Sam Bachman, who gave up two runs while getting three outs tonight, is probably the best option.

Bachman did the heavy lifting in the Angels’ bullpen game today. He came in after Sam Aldegheri gave a up a Ben Rice homer to start the sixth, cutting the Angels’ lead to two runs, and faced the minimum through the eighth, picking off the lone player to reach against him. It really should have gotten more than a hold, but the win went to Aldegheri. Bachman has a 3.48 ERA in 10 1/3 innings out of the Angels pen. There’s a chance he could factor into the mix for saves if veterans don’t step up, though he’d have to cut down on the walks first. He’s already issued eight.