Steven

Cruz

Congrats to Steven and his growing family. He could return for the final game of the season. If he doesn’t pitch again this year, he would end with a 4.30 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, eight saves, and a 65/20 K/BB ratio in 58 2/3 innings.

Cruz righted the ship here after blowing the save and taking the loss in his last appearance. He went very fastball heavy, throwing it 13 times out of 15 total pitches, and it handled the bottom of the White Sox’s order in a one run game. It’s been a bit of a rocky road, but Cruz has eight saves in nine chances after taking over as the Royals’ closer in a part-time capacity during the second half.

Cruz came in with a one-run lead in the eighth inning. Even if he pitched well, he wasn’t likely to come back out for the ninth and get the save. Instead, he gave up a go-ahead two-run home run to Brandon Lowe. Cruz remains in the save mix in Kansas City, though he appears to be slightly behind Nate Pearson in the pecking order based on recent usage.

On for the ninth inning in a four-run game, Cruz instantly served up a solo home run to Yainer Diaz to make this game a bit closer. Daulton Varsho then singled with two outs to put the tying run in the on-deck circle, but Cruz struck out Jorge Barrosa to end the game. Nate Pearson pitched the eighth inning in what was a five run lead at the time and let the Astros score one too. Pearson came in to face the top of their order, so he still appears to be slightly ahead of Cruz in the Royals’ bullpen pecking order.

Cruz needed just 10 pitches to secure the save on Friday, with five of those pitches going to Roman Anthony, who struck out to end the game. Cruz is a perfect 5-for-5 in his last five save opportunities and has yet to allow a run in his four relief appearances in September.

This one didn’t come easy for Cruz, who allowed two of the first three batters he faced to reach base and hit Travis Bazzana with a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Fortunately for Cruz, he was able to get pitch hitter Angel Genao to ground out to end the bases-loaded threat, but this could have easily turned into a disastrous appearance for the 27-year-old righty. Cruz is now a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities this month, but Friday marked his first save opportunity since August 17th. Unless he emerges as the clear-cut closer for the Royals, Cruz shouldn’t be counted on as a closer for fantasy purposes.

Kimbrel’s save was his first of the year and first with the Royals. Kansas City is the ninth franchise that Kimbrel has recorded a save with. He struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning to slam the door on the Tigers Saturday. Steven Cruz pitched in two of the last three games, which likely made him unavailable. Regardless of Cruz’ availability, Kimbrel has 441 saves in his career. He’s certainly in the mix for saves along with Cruz, who has five saves in his career, all coming this year with the Royals.

The good news is that the Royals opted to use Cruz with a four-run lead in the ninth inning. Given that he’s earned four of the team’s last five saves, it feels like he has a strong hold on the closer’s role. Yet, Max Muncy hit a long two-run homer off him in this ninth inning to make his night a bit more stressful than it needed to be.

Cruz’ save was his fifth of the season. Don’t look now, but it appears Cruz has wrestled away the closer’s job from Alex Lange for the time being. Cruz has three saves so far in August and should be rostered in most leagues.

Cruz came on with a one-run lead to protect in the ninth and made things interesting by allowing a one-out single to Jose Siri. Not to worry though, as he battled back to get Wade Meckler to ground into a fielder’s choice before retiring Mike Trout on strikes to end it. He appears to have supplanted Alex Lange as the team’s preferred option in the ninth inning and should probably be rostered in all mixed leagues at this stage.