Brewers reliever Josh Hader was called on to get an eight-out save on Monday against the Reds. He was more than up to the task, getting all eight of his outs on strikeouts. As MLB’s Stat of the Day notes, he’s the first pitcher ever to strike out eight batters in an outing of less than three innings.
Hader entered with one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the seventh, fanning Joey Votto and Scott Schebler to get out of the inning. In the eighth, he worked around a one-out walk of Tucker Barnhart by fanning Eugenio Suarez, Alex Blandino, and Adam Duvall. In the ninth, Hader struck out Billy Hamilton, Jesse Winker, and Jose Peraza to nail down the save.
The Brewers’ bullpen has been incredible, owning a 2.43 ERA on the season, third-best in baseball behind the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays. They have been quite able to deal with the loss of Corey Knebel, who went on the disabled list in early April with a hamstring injury.
Hader now sports a 1.00 ERA with a 39/5 K/BB ratio in 18 innings on the season.
