Shawn Tolleson hasn't had a very good couple of months.
After blowing his third save in essentially a week and his fourth of the season last week, Tolleson was finally stripped of his closer's role and replaced with Sam Dyson, for whom fans have clamored for a good while.
Tolleson made his first post-demotion appearance Monday night and it didn't come in a blowout or a low-leverage situation.
Yeah, the Rangers were trailing, but it was only a 2-0 deficit and Tolleson inherited a base runner with two outs in the seventh inning. He got some serious help from Bobby Wilson, who threw out a would-be base stealer to end the inning, but came to pitch the eighth in a close game and was good.
Tolleson struck out Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in the eighth to keep the Angels' lead at 2-0 — about all you can ask for when you're facing the Angels.
Tolleson might never be the Rangers' closer again, but if he can regain his confidence and be lights out in a setup role, it will be a huge development for a Rangers' bullpen that just discovered Matt Bush and has Keone Kela due back within the couple of months.
