Carlos Estévez slammed the door on the Royals in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, working a scoreless frame to protect a three-run lead and earn his 17th save of the season.
After the Royals rallied back from a 7-2 deficit in the ballgame, there was extra motivation to hang on and not blow the game. Estévez made things interesting in the ninth, allowing a one-out single to Ivan Herrera and a two-out walk to Alec Burleson that brought the tying run to the dish, but he rallied to strike out Nolan Gorman to end the threat and put it in the win column for the Royals. On the season, the 32-year-old stopper holds a terrific 1.71 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a 25/11 K/BB ratio over 26 1/3 innings while securing 17 saves in his first 19 opportunities.