Daniel Palencia, who has been functioning as the Cubs’ closer in recent weeks, worked a perfect eighth inning against the heart of the Pirates’ lineup. That left Pressly to close it out and he didn’t betray his manager’s trust. The 36-year-old hurler got Adam Frazier, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Tommy Pham each on ground balls to the right side of the infield. Pressly earned his fifth save of the season for his efforts. He’s not going to usurp the closer’s role back anytime soon, but it’s nice to see him get back on track.

It’s his first time this season that he’s struck out even two batters in an appearance. If not for one very, very bad day, Pressly would likely still be closing for the Cubs right now. Since giving up nine runs on May 6, he’s thrown eight scoreless innings over nine appearances. Still, it doesn’t seem like the Cubs have much interest in seeing him win his job back. Daniel Palencia is running with it right now.

Pressly came into a 4-1 game today. The Cubs then made it 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh, so there was no save situation to be had. If that had changed, we imagine it would have gone to Porter Hodge after Brad Keller worked a hitless eighth. Pressly has now made four appearances without allowing a run since his disastrous nine-run outing on May 6.

Pressly gave up a double, but he retired the other three batters he faced. He’s gone without allowing a run in three appearances since his nine-run disaster on May 6. It’s hard to say if he’ll get additional save chances in the near future, but it’s not something being ruled out.