St. Louis Cardinals’ closer Jason Motte achieves new milestone with 40th save – MLB News
St. Louis Cardinals Jason Motte on Sunday, September 23, achieved a new milestone with his 40th save in the season. Playing the series finale against the Chicago Cubs, Motte helped the Cardinals in saving the game with a 6-3 win, also managing to win the series.
The victory came at a very crucial time. Redbirds are competing for the Wild Card spot and the competition is tough. What is more noteworthy here is the fact that this was his sixth save in the last seven games he has appeared.
With the impressive 40th save, important and magnificent as it was, Motte has now figured in the elite list of Cardinals' closers who had more than 40 saves a season. Apart from him, there are three more Redbirds' closers who hold this record.
Among them are Jason Isringhausen (2004), Lee Smith (1991, '92, '93) and Bruce Sutter (1984). Lee Smith had done it thrice, something that Motte would love to do, provided he got the chances.
"To be in company with those guys is pretty good," Motte said. "Those guys had great careers."
Importantly, for Motte it is not the record that holds significance. For him, the club’s making it to the playoffs and beyond that is far more important. With nine games left this season, Motte has his eyes set on the Cardinals’ success.
"It's one of those things, the season is not over yet," Motte said. "We have nine more games. Once the season is over, maybe I'll look back at something like that. But we have nine more games in the season, so for me, that's what I look at. For these next nine games, 40 is kind of irrelevant."
In 64 games this season, he has pitched 69.1 innings, with 4-5 record, having saved 40 games with 2.86 record. His career ERA stands at 2.90 in 279 games that he has played so far.
Jason Motte was instrumental in the team’s win in the last year’s National League Championship Series. He certainly hopes this year will be no different than the previous in terms of glorious success.
Tags: