No. 2016.10.04 · Modern Era
Britton Stays in the Bullpen
Buck Showalter saved Zach Britton, who had converted all 47 of his saves with a 0.54 earned-run average, for a lead that never came. Ubaldo Jiménez gave up a three-run walk-off homer in the eleventh.
Zach Britton, Yankees at Orioles, August 25, 2018 (shown as a Yankee). Not the 2016 Wild Card Game.
Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
October 4, 2016, the American League Wild Card Game at Rogers Centre. The game was tied into the eleventh. Zach Britton had been the best reliever in the league that year: a 0.54 earned-run average, and 47 saves in 47 chances. Buck Showalter did not bring him in. He was waiting for a lead to protect.
Ubaldo Jiménez, a starter having a poor season, pitched the eleventh. Edwin Encarnación hit a three-run homer. Toronto won, 5–2, and Baltimore's season ended with Britton still in the bullpen. There had not been a save situation. There had been an elimination inning.
The decision has a logic if a closer is defined as a man who pitches only with a lead. The game did not offer that inning. It offered a tie, in October, with the club's best pitcher available. Showalter kept the definition and lost the game.
Film
Encarnación's walk-off homer
Edwin Encarnación hits a three-run homer off Ubaldo Jiménez in the eleventh, and Toronto wins the wild-card game.
Watch on MLB.comRelated entries
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