St. Louis Cardinals reliever
Riley O'Brien closed out the Los Angeles Dodgers to nab his first career save in a 5-3 victory on Wednesday. The right-hander took over for lefty
JoJo Romero with two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the eighth, and he induced a
Teoscar Hernandez groundout to end the inning. O'Brien stayed in for the ninth and tossed a scoreless frame with one walk to secure the save. With the team having traded closer
Ryan Helsley at last week's trade deadline, O'Brien, Romero, and
Kyle Leahy are among the candidates for saves in St. Louis. Romero has tallied two saves since the deadline, but the Cardinals brought him into the game to face lefty-swinging slugger
Shohei Ohtani in the seventh with two outs, a runner on, and the Dodgers leading 3-2. Romero struck out Ohtani and ended up getting the win after the Cardinals took the lead for good in the top of the eighth. Without another southpaw in their bullpen, the Cardinals will continue using Romero before the ninth if he's available to face a tough lefty hitter like Ohtani. That figures to limit his save opportunities to some degree.
