Saupold earned his first career save Saturday against the Royals, pitching 2.1 innings without allowing a single baserunner.
While Saupold technically earned the save, he's in no way part of the closer conversation in Detroit. He entered the game with two outs in the top of the seventh and a three-run lead. That lead was promptly stretched to six in the bottom of the seventh and eight in the bottom of the eighth. If the game remained close, the Tigers almost certainly would have gone away from their long reliever. Still, it's a promising outing for Saupold, who has now thrown 5.2 innings and has yet to allow a run. With a strikeout rate of 4.7 percent, though, don't expect him to climb into a high-leverage role anytime soon.