Hogan

Harris

After coming into a 1-0 game, Alvarado gave up homers to Rafael Devers and Victor Bericoto in the ninth. It’s his first blown save and third loss. The other biggest threat for saves in the A’s pen, Hogan Harris, worked a scoreless seventh tonight, so he’s looking a little better at the moment. Still, no A’s reliever seems particularly trustworthy in shallow leagues.

Harris retired Troy Johnston to end the eighth and then struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth to lower his ERA to 2.67. Harris is the favorite for saves in the Athletics pen right now, but because he is the team’s best left-handed reliever, he will pitch earlier in games at times.

Harris entered with a 10-8 lead in the eighth and immediately got a double play ball to escape a jam. However, he went on to allow two runs in the ninth to take a blown save. Nothing that happens in Vegas this week should be taken too seriously, so we’re not going to ding Harris for giving up two runs in what turned out to be a 15-14 loss. He still looks like the favorite for saves in Sacramento.

Sterner was tasked with holding onto a one-run lead in the 10th inning and did the job here. The game-changing at-bat came when he struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong with a runner on third and one out after a tough battle. This may have little to do with the Athletics’ closer hierarchy as Hogan Harris came on for the bottom of the ninth in a tie game after nabbing the save on Tuesday. Continue to keep an eye on this bullpen.

Scott Barlow allowed a walk and a single to start the ninth with a one-run lead. He then retired Alex Bregman and Seiya Suzuki, but at that point, the A’s turned to the lefty Harris to face Ian Happ and were rewarded with a routine fly to center. Harris broke a tie with Joel Kuhnel and Mark Leiter Jr. by becoming the first A’s reliever with five saves this season. The situation doesn’t seem worth investing in right now.

Harris had to stop the automatic runner from scoring to convert the save tonight, but he did so after striking out Josh Lowe, who kept trying to sacrifice, and getting Zach Neto to ground out. He then intentionally walked Mike Trout and unintentionally walked Nolan Schanuel before Jorge Soler grounded out to end the game. It’s Harris’s third save in his last six appearances, so he definitely seems like the A’s preferred choice to close right now. However, he is in line to get Thursday off after throwing 40 pitches the last two days.

Jack Perkins has blown two save chances in a row, so the ninth is again wide open in Sacramento. Since Harris is the team’s top lefty, it’s not always going to make sense to save him for the ninth inning. Still, he figures to remain very much in the mix for saves. He has a 2.45 ERA despite having walked 17 in 22 innings.

Perkins was summoned with a 4-2 lead to protect in the ninth. He walked Adley Rutschman to open the inning then punched out Pete Alonso and Dylan Beavers. Rutschman then advanced to second on defensive indifference before scoring on a two-out RBI single by Samuel Basallo. That’s when Hogan Harris was brought on to get out of it. After blowing a save earlier in the week, this can’t help Perkins’ job security.

The Yankees had stacked three lefties back-to-back-to-back after pinch-running for Giancarlo Stanton with Jazz Chisholm, so the Athletics turned to the lefty to get through the final three outs of a 1-0 win. Three different A’s have saves this year and guessing which pitcher will get one feels more like chance than anything.

If anyone in the A’s pen was worth taking a flier on, it seemed to be Leiter, and he made good for one day, at least. Hogan Harris, Justin Sterner and Scott Barlow all also pitched scoreless innings for holds. We wouldn’t bet big on Leiter getting consistent save chances with the A’s still trying to figure out their bullpen hierarchy, but the team lacks any clearly better options.