Perfect saves
Posted by Andy on July 2, 2009
Let's take a look at all-time leaders for what I'm calling "perfect saves", meaning saves in which the pitcher didn't allow any baserunners.
Here are the top 10 totals for saves while allowing no baserunners:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Trevor Hoffman 280 Ind. Games (1) Mariano Rivera 224 Ind. Games (2) Dennis Eckersley 199 Ind. Games (5) Billy Wagner 178 Ind. Games (6) Lee Smith 171 Ind. Games (3) Troy Percival 160 Ind. Games (8) John Franco 151 Ind. Games (4) Jeff Reardon 143 Ind. Games (7) Tom Henke 138 Ind. Games (17) Rick Aguilera 137 Ind. Games (15)
This isn't such a surprise, except for the last 2 guys. You see, the numbers in parentheses are the career ranks for saves (of any variety) for each guy. Both Henke and Aguilera had an unusually high proportion of perfect saves since they were able to vault into the top 10, passing guys like Randy Myers, Rollie Fingers, and John Wetteland, who had more career saves but fewer perfect ones.
Now here are the leaders for perfect saves (no baserunners) that were more than 1 inning long:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Rich Gossage 44 Ind. Games Lee Smith 40 Ind. Games Jeff Reardon 39 Ind. Games Mariano Rivera 38 Ind. Games Rollie Fingers 36 Ind. Games Dennis Eckersley 36 Ind. Games Bruce Sutter 33 Ind. Games Hoyt Wilhelm 30 Ind. Games John Wetteland 28 Ind. Games Jeff Montgomery 24 Ind. Games
Interestingly there are only 4 of the same names in the top 10. Of course, this goes down mainly to how these guys were used.
If we extend the innings pitched to at least 2, the list shows even more different names:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Rich Gossage 21 Ind. Games Hoyt Wilhelm 20 Ind. Games Bruce Sutter 19 Ind. Games Rollie Fingers 19 Ind. Games Gene Garber 17 Ind. Games Lee Smith 14 Ind. Games Jeff Reardon 14 Ind. Games Dan Quisenberry 14 Ind. Games Don McMahon 12 Ind. Games Dave Righetti 11 Ind. Games Ron Reed 11 Ind. Games Tug McGraw 11 Ind. Games Roger McDowell 11 Ind. Games Sparky Lyle 11 Ind. Games
Notice there's not a single guy who pitched in the last 10 years.
And how about this. Here are saves where the pitcher faced at most 1 batter but recorded at least 2 outs:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Sparky Lyle 6 Ind. Games Bill Castro 5 Ind. Games Hal Woodeshick 4 Ind. Games Bob Stanley 4 Ind. Games Elias Sosa 4 Ind. Games Ron Perranoski 4 Ind. Games Jesse Orosco 4 Ind. Games Bob Locker 4 Ind. Games Turk Farrell 4 Ind. Games
The vast majority of these are double plays. Here are the most recent such saves:
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB BR SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 Trevor Hoffman 2009-06-29 MIL NYM W 10-6 9-9f ,S 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 2 Ramon Troncoso 2009-06-18 LAD OAK W 3-2 9-9f ,S 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 3 Brad Lidge 2009-05-17 PHI @WSN W 8-6 9-9f ,S 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 4 Jason Grilli 2009-04-15 COL @CHC W 5-2 9-9f ,S 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Trevor Hoffman did it just the other day, inducing a GIDP. Same for Troncoso and Lidge. But what happened in Grilli's case? Simple. Right after he came into the game, Mike Fontenot was thrown out on the basepaths and then Giovani Soto grounded into a double play.
Turns out that this save by Grilli is one of just three times that a pitcher has even earned a save while facing no more than 1 batter and recording at least 3 outs:
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB BR SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 Jason Grilli 2009-04-15 COL @CHC W 5-2 9-9f ,S 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 2 Barry Jones 1991-09-08 MON CIN W 4-2 9-9f ,S 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 3 Don Nottebart 1967-05-30 CIN STL W 2-1 9-9f ,S 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Barry Jones got Chris Sabo to ground into a triple play and Don Nottebart did the same to Phil Gagliano. Wow! What a way to end a game!
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:16 am
Interesting.
Any idea why there would be no GDP credited in the Nottebart line?
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:52 am
Well in looking at the box score, Notterbart's triple play was scored Triple Play: Groundout: SS-2B-1B-C
Sounds to me like there was a regular double play turned and then a throw home to nail the runner from 3rd trying to score. But even that seems weird--the runner must either have gotten a terrible jump or turned around for some odd reason. And in any event, it would seem that there was a double play turned. Hmmm.
I found an account of the play here:
http://tripleplays.sabr.org/tp_1960.htm
It says that Cepeda made a delayed dash for home, which makes sense. But I still don't get why no GIDP was credited. Oddly enough, note that this was not the only triple play to occur on May 30th in the decade of the 1960s.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 am
Is it assumed that a 'perfect save' also means that no inherited runners scored (SF, PB, WP, SH, etc.)? If not, would that change the list? How about if no base runners even advanced? That would be even more 'perfect'. Would the list change again?
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:20 am
It wasn't a save, but didn't an Orioles position player take the mound a few years back and finish a game facing no batters? If memory serves, he got the third out of the inning by picking a runner off first base. My question is, how often has it happened that a pitcher ended a game (save or non-save) without facing a batter? To extend beyond game-ending situations, how often has a pitcher come into a game and recoreded at least 1/3 IP while facing no batters in the game?
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Tomepp, I'll write these up and post them tomorrow.