Mariano Rivera Notches 600th Save
Mariano Rivera inched closer to all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman last night, notching the 600th save of his career to seal a 3-2 New York Yankees win over the Seattle Mariners.
Rivera gave up one hit and struck out a pair to record his 41st save of the season.
After sitting down Wily Me Pena on strikes, Rivera gave up a single to Ichiro Suzuki. Rivera went on to strike out his second batter of the inning, and with Dustin Ackley at the plate, Suzuki was gunned down at second by Russell Martin to end the game.
The outing marked Rivera’s third straight scoreless appearance, and the 11th in his last 12 games pitched. Rivera has now successfully completed 12 straight save opportunities.
Rivera has continued to cement his spot as the greatest closer of all-time this season. Rivera’s high level of performance has continued even as the right-hander is approaching his 42nd birthday.
On the year for the Yankees, Rivera has maintained an ERA of 2.05 to go along with his 0.93 WHIP. Over Rivera’s 57 innings of work, he has struck out 55 batters while walking only 7. He’s only allowed 3 home runs this year and has held opposing hitters to a .222 batting average.
Rivera’s recorded 30 or more saves in all but one of his seasons since taking over the closer’s role in New York. Rivera’s hit the 40 plateau 8 times, and finds himself only one behind Hoffman on the all-time save list.
But Rivera has been so much more than just a save collector, he has an amazing career stat line. Over his 17 years in the bigs, Rivera has a career 2.22 earned run average and an even 1.000 WHIP. Rivera’s career FIP and FIPx are 2.76 and 2.99, and the righty has compiled a career WAR of 38.7 according to Fan Graphs.
Rivera’s allowed less than .50 home runs per 9 innings of work, and has a career strikeout and walk ratios of 8.25 and 2.04.
What’s more amazing about all of these numbers? In 2011 at the age of 41, Rivera has been pitching better than his career averages.
Rivera has also been nearly untouchable during the postseason. Having played in 31 playoff series and 7 World Championships, Rivera has shined. While on baseball’s highest stages, Rivera has held an ERA and WHIP of 0.71 and 0.766 over his 139.2 innings of work.
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