Unusual Saves and Bat Flips
Three-Dot Friday 4.25
I received a request to explain something goofy that happened in sports last week (which you may have figured out is what I do anyway). The Cincinnati Reds beat the Baltimore Orioles 24-2 last Sunday, and Reds pitcher Randy Wynne was credited with a save. This confused even knowledgeable baseball fans, as a save is mostly given when a pitcher enters a close game with his team ahead and prevents the other team from tying or winning the game- thus the origin of the phrase, “save.”
But if that’s the rule, how do you get a save in a 24-2 game? Because of a part of the official save rule that is designed to reward a reliever for finishing a win for his team by pitching at least three innings. That part of the rule does not declare what the score has to be in order to receive a save, but merely that the pitcher must be the last pitcher for his team and throw at least three innings- the Baseball-Reference.com entry notes that at some point MLB removed the word “effectively” from the official rule…
That is what Reds reliever Randy Wynne did on Sunday. He pitched the final three innings for the Reds and his team won the game. Thus, he receives a save, however tenuous the circumstances. Does it matter that he entered the game with the score 15-1 and the final score was 24-2 and he was the only Reds pitcher to allow an earned run in the game? Reader, it does not, according to the rules…
Now, you might be thinking that this is the most lopsided save in the history of baseball. Well, it is most certainly not…
On August 22, 2007, the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles (yep, same team on the losing side), by the final of 30-3. Wes Littleton pitched the final three innings for the Rangers and, since you can already see where this is going, was credited with a save. The 27-run differential made it the largest margin of victory for a credited save by eight runs. The New York Times writer then listed those games (ha, I knew somebody else had done the work! Smarter not harder) and noted that the previous record had been set April 19, 1996, when the Rangers beat the- you guessed it- Orioles by a score of 26-7…
(Yes, that means the top three blowouts of all time where a guy got a save happened against the Orioles.)
Wes Littleton pitched three seasons in the bigs, and this was the second of three career saves for him. The others came in more conventional circumstances (they would kind of have to).
As for the game that is now number two in the blowout save category, it should not surprise you at all that this was Randy Wynne’s first-ever career save. His story is rather interesting (note: everyone’s is). He was born in San Diego and officially was undrafted in 2015 when in all likelihood no MLB team even had him on their radar since he pitched for two very small colleges. Nevertheless, he kept at the dream. He pitched independently for a couple years before signing a minor-league deal with the Reds in 2019. He made it through the pandemic and continued his minor league career in 2021, making his major league debut in 2023, finally, at age 30, but spending all of 2024 in the minors…
And this year? He turned 32 in March, started again in the minors, was brought up Sunday- and pitched his three innings to earn his first-ever save in a mega-blowout.
And what happened yesterday? He was sent back down. There’s a pretty fair chance that’ll be his only major league save. It’s a heck of a save to have, though…
You may recall that on April 15th, when everybody wears 42 to honor Jackie Robinson, I noted it was a good day to listen to major league broadcasters and notice how well they do identifying players when they all are wearing the same number- and that the true pros should not hesitate in the slightest. I then gave a caveat, noting that the most acceptable time for an announcer to screw up is when a guy is warming up in the bullpen, especially if they play for the other team.
And what did San Francisco Giants Hall of Fame announcer Jon Miller do in the 8th inning of their game in Philadelphia that day? He admitted he couldn’t figure out who was warming up in the Phillies bullpen. The circumstances were understandable, as Philly had used their regular closer in the top of the 8th and since it was still a tight game, they still needed to bring in one of their better guys to pitch the 9th. So, there was a lot of “Is that Matt Strahm warming up? I think that’s Matt Strahm. He’s got the hair of Matt Strahm, but I can’t be certain.” So, yeah, it happened to a true pro and Miller wasn’t afraid to say so…
There are a lot of great bat flips happening, now that professional baseball is now allowing players to actually enjoy themselves and show emotion (You may recall a few years ago the major kerfuffle when anybody dared to have fun playing the game. The stuffed shirts tended to blame the problem on a certain group of players- you can figure out for yourselves which group- and you would be shocked to learn that nearly all those stuffed shirts were old white guys).
The potentially greatest bat flip of all time- and yes I’m putting it at number one- happened in a minor league game on last Saturday, (another) April 19th, when Red Sox prospect Andy Lugo, who’s playing for the Greenville Drive, hit a walk-off single in the 12th inning.
How preposterous was his bat flip? When the camera cut to the high angle to show the ball headed towards right field, Lugo threw his bat so high it sailed through the screen.
See it for yourself:
Sometimes the best moment of the game doesn’t get into the box score. And nobody got hurt when it came down- that might really have been the save of the year.
And if you’d like a detailed explanation of how the save came to be, may I direct you to another regular reader of this column, Mike Ficher, who wrote it up on his Substack, The Koppet Kat…
Thanks for the link. A fun historic perspective to research on the save!
Maybe, the Orioles are, occasionally, channeling the freqent ineptitude of the St. Louis Browns...for grounding purposes...