PHILADELPHIA -- Baseball is rarely easy as 1-2-3. But Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott not only got the three outs required to lock down the save in the ninth inning of Saturday's 3-1 win over the Phillies -- he did it on a mere three pitches.
Scott became the fifth pitcher on record to convert a save on three pitches while facing three batters (pitch counts have been tracked since 1988). The other members of that exclusive club are Mariano Rivera (June 15, 2003), Steve Reed (May 8, 1994), Duane Ward (June 15, 1993) and Barry Jones (Oct. 2, 1992).
That's right: It had been more than two decades since anyone accomplished the rare feat. Too bad, because it's quite the boon for a manager to get that kind of efficiency out of one of his top high-leverage arms.
"You don't see too many three-pitch saves," manager Dave Roberts said. "He'll be ready to go tomorrow as well."
From the jump, it didn't seem like a three-pitch outing would be in the cards for Scott. His first pitch to Bryce Harper was tapped to third baseman Max Muncy, who could not come up with the ball cleanly, allowing Harper to reach first on what was ruled a base hit.
He wasn't there for long. Scott's second pitch to Alec Bohm was grounded right at shortstop Mookie Betts, who flipped the ball to second baseman Tommy Edman to start a double play.
With the bases empty, Scott threw his third and final pitch to Max Kepler, who lined out to left fielder Michael Conforto for a whirlwind of a bottom of the ninth.
Scott, who signed with the Dodgers on a four-year, $72 million contract this past offseason, had a couple of shaky outings earlier on, allowing a run in three straight appearances from March 27-31. Roberts said at that time that he wasn't concerned about Scott -- who is not officially the Dodgers' closer, but will get the majority of save opportunities -- and that the veteran southpaw was "working through some things."
Roberts won't expect this kind of performance on the regular, but it's nevertheless a sign that one of his top ninth-inning options is back on track.
"The pitching guys, the performance guys have kind of dug in on Tanner ... and cleaned some things up in his delivery," Roberts said. "I think he's in a good place right now.¡±