Soto picks up 15th save of season vs. Royals

Soto came in with the Pirates down 1-0 and erased their chances of winning by giving up two walks and two doubles. Soto also gave up two runs in the eighth inning Saturday to take a loss and a blown save, so as a free agent to be, he’s costing himself some money here at the end of the season.

Soto’s save was his 14th of the season. He recorded one strikeout in a perfect ninth inning. Soto’s save was just his third since June 16. He’s allowed two runs in 11 1/3 innings since the beginning of July.

It’s Soto’s second save in the last month, as he’s mostly been working in the eighth of late. Today, Mason Montgomery came into a tie game in the eighth and got four outs to send the game to extras. Soto then got the save chance after the Pirates scored twice in the top of the 10th. It’s possible that Soto will regain the closer’s role in Pittsburgh — he’s allowed just one run in 6 2/3 innings this month — but, for now, it should still be considered a committee, with Montgomery and others also in the mix. Yohan Ramírez might have a chance at a save in game two tonight.

Mason Montgomery was uninvolved in the late game mix tonight, as he opened and threw a scoreless first inning. The Pirates had Brandon Eisert begin the eighth with a 3-0 lead, but he gave up three singles to load the bases with one out. Soto entered then and allowed all of the inherited runners to score before escaping the inning. Santana took over in the ninth in a tie game and gave up hits to all three batters he faced. The second of those was a double that saw the winning run thrown out at home plate. However, that just served to set up Travis Bazzana’s walkoff homer. Montgomery seems like the Pirates’ best late-game reliever right now, but with the way Don Kelly is managing things, it’s hard to recommend any of the team’s relievers.

Soto was summoned to protect a one-run lead in the final frame and immediately got into trouble when he surrendered a leadoff single to Christian Yelich before issuing a one-out walk to Brice Turang and a single to William Contreras. He somehow managed to wriggle out of the bases-loaded jam completely unscathed by coaxing a game-ending double-play ball from ensuing batter Andrew Vaughn. He’s converted 12 of 16 save chances for the Pirates this season to go along with a lackluster 4.05 ERA across 40 innings.

Brandon Marsh homered with one out and Bryson Stott singled with two outs, at which point Soto was pulled. Yohan Ramírez took over and allowed the inherited runner to score before finishing the inning. That might have created a save chance for Mason Montgomery, but the Pirates scored three times in the top of the ninth to take it away. Montgomery then pitched a hitless ninth with a four-run lead. Soto has blown two saves and given up runs in two other appearances this month, so it looks like the closer’s role in Pittsburgh is open again. Montgomery, Dennis Santana and Ramirez could all factor into the mix, with Carmen Mlodzinski also possibly picking up some multi-inning saves.

Soto took the mound in the ninth inning with a one-run lead and allowed the first two runners to reach before inducing a double play on a grounder. He then issued a walk to put runners on the corners with two outs before serving up a three-run homer to Eugenio Suárez to blow the lead and fall in line for a loss. It hasn’t been the best stretch for the 31-year-old left-hander, giving up nine runs over his last seven outings, raising his ERA to 3.93 across 34 1/3 innings.

It wasn’t a save, since the Pirates scored twice in the bottom of the eighth, but it was a positive outing for Soto, who had allowed seven runs — six earned — over four innings in his previous five appearances. He retired JP Crawford, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez without incident today.

Soto retired just one of the first four batters he faced to make things interesting, but he then got Willi Castro to ground into a game-ending double play. Dennis Santana gave up a three-run homer in the eighth today, so he certainly didn’t gain any ground on Soto today. Still, Soto has surrendered five earned runs this month to take his ERA from 1.95 to 3.34.

Soto took the mound in the ninth inning to preserve a one-run lead against the Athletics. He worked around two hits, striking out two batters to secure the win for the Pirates with his 11th save to go with a 3.16 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and a 37/12 K/BB ratio across 31 1/3 innings.