Grant Balfour gets the night off – Luke Hughes goes to AAA
Grant Balfour has had some back tightness recently. In his past four outings, he has two blown saves and a loss, and has allowed six earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. He still does not expect to vacate the closer’s role anytime soon.
“I like where I’m at,” he said. “I want to stay where I’m at. I don’t plan on anything else.”
However Grant’s recent workload proved to be of value to Brian Fuentes who got the Save in the A’s win over the Red Sox last night.
Brian Fuentes’ last save came June 19 against the Giants, so he has had quite a long wait to record a nice round number.
On Wednesday night at Fenway Park, Fuentes subbed for Grant, who had worked five of the previous eight days. Fuentes picked up the 200th save of his career. He’s the 43rd major-league pitcher to reach that mark, and the sixth left-hander.
“Two hundred is a big deal with me,” said Fuentes, who is from Merced. “I’ve been holding steady at 199 for a long time. It feels good. I feel very fortunate.”
Meanwhile Luke Hughes has cleared waivers and will join Rich Thompson at Triple-A Sacramento
