Consecutive Saves on the Road
Posted by Raphy on May 17, 2010
After looking at the leaders in consecutive saves at home, reader DoubleDiamond made the following comment:
I think that a most consecutive saves streak on the road would be even more impressive. Not only would someone be in enemy territory, but the stakes are higher - a go-ahead run is a walk-off, not just something for the pitcher's team to think about overcoming in the bottom of the ninth (although often against the opponent's closer). While a home game never presents a save opportunity in an extra inning game, a closer called in to preserve a lead in the bottom of an extra inning is not only trying to prevent a walk-off win but also to prevent the game from going into even more innings.
That seems like a good idea. Here are the leaders for consecutive saves on the road (1920-1939,1952-2010)
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | HBP | WP | BK | Tm | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Gagne | 2002-08-14 | 2007-07-16 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 64 | 68.1 | 32 | 7 | 7 | 19 | 93 | 2 | 0.92 | 1 | 1 | 0 | LAD-TEX |
| 2 | Randy Myers | 1996-09-04 | 1998-06-10 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 35.2 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 38 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | BAL-TOR |
| 3 | Bob Wickman | 2000-08-28 | 2002-07-20 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 35 | 34.2 | 33 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 29 | 1 | 2.86 | 0 | 1 | 0 | CLE |
| 4 | Brad Lidge | 2007-09-25 | 2009-04-25 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 32 | 32.0 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 51 | 2 | 1.69 | 2 | 4 | 0 | HOU-PHI |
| 5 | Jason Isringhause | 2004-06-02 | 2005-06-01 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 32 | 30.2 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 25 | 0 | 0.29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | STL |
| 6 | Jason Isringhause | 2002-05-08 | 2004-05-09 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 31 | 32.1 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 31 | 0 | 0.84 | 0 | 0 | 0 | STL |
| 7 | Dennis Eckersley | 1989-09-20 | 1991-04-16 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 31 | 35.1 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | OAK |
| 8 | Mariano Rivera | 2004-08-11 | 2005-08-15 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 30.0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | NYY |
| 9 | Todd Jones | 1999-06-24 | 2000-07-30 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 30.1 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 34 | 1 | 1.48 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DET |
| 10 | Trevor Hoffman | 1997-08-24 | 1998-09-27 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 32.1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 33 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | SDP |
| 11 | Dennis Eckersley | 1991-09-05 | 1992-08-23 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 34.2 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 0.78 | 0 | 0 | 0 | OAK |
| 12 | Armando Benitez | 2001-08-04 | 2003-04-08 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 28 | 28.0 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 37 | 2 | 0.96 | 1 | 0 | 0 | NYM |
| 13 | Billy Wagner | 2003-05-11 | 2004-09-08 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 27 | 29.0 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 42 | 0 | 0.31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | HOU-PHI |
| 14 | Tom Gordon | 1998-04-01 | 1999-05-30 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 27 | 29.1 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 32 | 0 | 0.92 | 0 | 4 | 0 | BOS |
| 15 | Francisco Rodrigu | 2007-08-19 | 2008-07-07 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 24.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 25 | 1 | 0.37 | 0 | 3 | 0 | LAA |
| 16 | Trevor Hoffman | 2005-04-11 | 2006-06-07 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 25.1 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 1 | 0.71 | 1 | 0 | 0 | SDP |
| 17 | Troy Percival | 1997-08-15 | 1998-08-30 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 27.0 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 40 | 0 | 1.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ANA |
| 18 | Ricky Bottalico | 1996-04-10 | 1997-06-08 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 27.2 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 26 | 1 | 0.65 | 1 | 1 | 0 | PHI |
| 19 | Billy Wagner | 2006-08-02 | 2007-08-18 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 24.2 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 37 | 1 | 0.73 | 1 | 1 | 0 | NYM |
| 20 | Mudcat Grant | 1964-09-23 | 1970-08-29 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 40.0 | 25 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 4 | 1.35 | 1 | 1 | 0 | MIN-LAD-STL-OAK |
Wow! Talk about dominating the field. Eric Gagne easily walks away with this title. Gagne went close to 5 years without blowing a save on the road.
Among pitchers with a save in 2010, Matt Lindstrom is the active leader with 16 consecutive road saves dating back to September of 2008. On the list above, he is tied for 89th place.
May 17th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Gagné's next longest streak of consecutive road saves is eight.
May 17th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Well, the 64 does encompass pretty much his entire closing career.
May 17th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Isringhausen was pretty close to connecting those 32 and 31 game streaks. Only about a month between them.
May 18th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Fun to see Mudcat Grant make the list. He had a 21-win season in the middle of that streak. 🙂
May 18th, 2010 at 8:51 am
In the 3+ weeks between Izzy's streaks, he appeared in 8 games - 4 at home and 4 on the road. He picked up 3 saves at home. (In the other game, he pitched the 9th inning in a non-save situation game in which the Cards were already behind.) In the four road games, he saved one and blew two saves - earning a win and a loss in those games in addition to the BS's. (In the other road game, Izzy pitched the 9th in a non-save situation game that the cards won 11-4.)
So during the stretch from 5-08-2002 to 6-01-2005, Izzy was 64-2(Sv-BS) in road save situations; impressive, but not quite as inpressive as Gagne's 64-0.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Gagne = JuiceHead