Kansas City Royals pitcher Greg Holland earned a save in each of his team's four games during the American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles to join Dennis Eckersley as the only pitchers with four saves in a single LCS, per MLB Stat of the Day.
In 1988, Eckersley saved each of the Oakland Athletics' four wins in an ALCS sweep of the Boston Red Sox, though his '88 postseason is best remembered for the game-winning home run he served up to Kirk Gibson in a World Series Game 1 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Holland is hoping for a more satisfying end to his own postseason, which has thus far been a very active one. He has six saves in eight appearances, having pitched in each of the Royals' eight playoff games, all victories.
Though now on a roll, Holland started his 2014 postseason in rather unspectacular fashion, with a scoreless, three-walk ninth inning against the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card Game, escaping a bases-loaded jam to send the game to extra innings.
He then turned in a flawless ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts in each of the series' three games. He got the save in Games 1 and 2, but the Royals won Game 3 by a score of 8-3.
The ALCS proved similarly fruitful for the 28-year-old reliever, as he allowed just one run over four single-inning appearances, saving games that the Royals won by scores of 8-6, 6-3, 2-1 and 2-1.
While Holland and Eckersley are the only pitchers to save four games in an LCS, it should be noted that John Wetteland saved all four of the New York Yankees' victories in the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves, per MLB Stat of The Day.
According to baseball-reference.com, Holland needs just two saves in the World Series against the San Francisco Giants to eclipse the single-postseason record of seven saves, held jointly by Koji Uehara (2013), Brad Lidge (2008), Troy Percival (2002), Robb Nen (2002) and Wetteland (1996).
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