BOSTON — When the Orioles traded for right-hander Seranthony Domínguez shortly before the MLB deadline, manager Brandon Hyde didn’t envision this to be the outcome, less than two months later.
Hyde welcomed the relief help, but Domínguez wasn’t a high-leverage reliever any longer for the Philadelphia Phillies. His last concentrated time as closer came in 2018, when Domínguez was a 23-year-old rookie, and yet in close games down the stretch, it will be Domínguez whom Hyde summons out of the bullpen for the ninth inning.
“Seranthony is relishing the role,” Hyde said. “We’re going to keep rolling Seranthony out there in the ninth.”
How this came to be is a credit to Domínguez, a consequence of right-hander Craig Kimbrel’s dismal second half and an outcome of general manager Mike Elias’ trade deadline approach. Despite concerns regarding Kimbrel’s performances, Elias didn’t trade for a proven closer.
He opted to make two smaller deals with the Phillies, adding Domínguez and left-hander Gregory Soto, for outfielder Austin Hays and right-handers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace. In recent weeks, Soto and Domínguez have settled into their new club well. Soto recovered from a disastrous first three games, and Domínguez is expected to have the ball in the biggest moments heading into the postseason.
Kimbrel has rarely been used in high-leverage situations since July 26, when he allowed two runs and gave up the lead to the San Diego Padres one day after blowing a save against the Miami Marlins. It wasn’t until Aug. 10, though, that Domínguez began to take hold of the ninth-inning role.
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And, for a moment, it seemed as though Domínguez might not stick, either. He allowed walk-off homers twice against the New York Mets last month.
But, in the time since, Domínguez has made the closing role his own by stringing six straight saves together. In that span, he allowed one run and one walk and struck out eight batters in 6 1/3 innings. He also pitched a scoreless ninth inning Wednesday to send the game to extra innings.
Baltimore may have stumbled upon its closer, but if Domínguez can maintain this level of success, the Orioles can feel more confident in save situations than they have for months.
“It’s very exciting for me, because I believe in myself and I know what I can do,” Domínguez said. “I just need the opportunity to show what I got and to compete.”
Domínguez has shown it earlier in his career. He recorded 16 saves as a rookie and nine in 2022. But his opportunities became more limited in Philadelphia as his results wavered. Domínguez held a career-high 4.75 ERA this season in 36 innings for the Phillies, and his lone save came against Baltimore.
Since arriving in late July, however, there have been modest changes to Domínguez’s pitch mix and locational variance. Part of what makes Domínguez a difficult back-end reliever to face is his high-90s fastball and slider combination, but he has two fastballs and two sliders for different situations.
One is a classic slider that has shorter, sharper break. The other is a sweeper, exhibiting more horizontal run out of the strike zone away from right-handed hitters. His four-seam fastball has some hop and cut, and his sinker dives slightly inward against righties and away from lefties.
“I think it’s just a blend of a little better mix based on the hitters that we’re facing this time of year,” assistant pitching coach Mitch Plassmeyer said. “He’s got two sliders and two fastballs, and just knowing how he wants to leverage those to hitters before he goes in the game has kind of been the mix you’ve seen recently.”
Domínguez throws his four-seamer and sinker, on average, faster than 98 mph. It’s the sort of heat that Kimbrel used to exhibit, before the veteran’s average fastball dipped below 94 mph.
Since July 14, Kimbrel’s ERA is 8.83. Walks have played a major role, with 15 in 17 1/3 innings. And, with his slow move to home, runners tend to take off in a hurry.
“I think, if we go back and we just kind of look over the innings when I struggle, a lot of times it’s when I get guys on, guys start moving around, hits fall in and one thing leads to another and just not being able to get that strikeout when I need it,” Kimbrel said. “Obviously frustrated. You don’t want to go giving up runs. But how I feel, how the ball is going out of my hand, definitely encouraged for the next time I get the ball.”
The next time he gets the ball likely won’t be in a save situation — not with the way Domínguez has pitched.
Domínguez has closed out nine of his 10 save situations, and he has pitched better this season in high-leverage roles. Entering Wednesday, his ERA was 2.35 with a .179 batting average against him in the ninth inning. In the eighth, he holds a 1.62 ERA. Domínguez’s ERA balloons to 10.29 in the sixth and 6.97 in the seventh.
“You ask any reliever in baseball, we like to be there in that situation,” Domínguez said.
And he seems ready for it. Plassmeyer said that, whenever he talks to Domínguez, he’s struck by how relaxed the 29-year-old seems. Perhaps that’s because he has experienced the pressure of saving games in the majors since he was a rookie.
“That’s so good for that kind of role, being on the back end,” Plassmeyer said. “He’s done it before. He’s gotten a ton of big outs in his life. So, it’s just natural for him to be in the pressure situations.”
Domínguez seems destined for more and more of them as September rolls on and October arrives.
