Mariano Rivera doesn’t need the all-time saves record to tell us that he’s the greatest relief pitcher of all-time, but he’ll soon be sitting on top of the mountain.
Rivera earned his 601st save this afternoon in a 7-6 win over the Blue Jays, tying him with Trevor Hoffman for the all-time saves record. The 41-year-old right-hander retired the side in order, throwing just 15 pitches and striking out one. In other words, not much different than what we’ve seen over the past 16 years.
The Yankees actually trailed early on after Bartolo Colon gave up six runs over four innings, but they fought back thanks to a three-run homer by Alex Rodriguez in the top of the sixth and a go-ahead two-run blast by Curtis Granderson in the seventh. Granderson went 3-for-3 with three runs scored on the afternoon. He now has 40 home runs on the season, trailing only Jose Bautista, and ranks first in the American League with 113 RBI and 131 runs scored.
