Five-out saves nothing new for closer Chris Perez

In his brief time as a closer in the majors, Chris Perez has shown he does not need a minimum-threshold save situation to be successful. He gladly will enter the ninth inning with nobody on, nobody out and a three-run lead, but he is more than willing to take the ball in a mess.

Thursday night against Oakland, Perez notched his second five-out save this season and fourth of his career in the Indians' 3-2 victory. He inherited runners on first and second and worked out of it, then pitched around a hit in the ninth. He struck out a career-high four.

The save was his 16th this season (in 20 opportunities) and 25th since making his debut with St. Louis in May 2008.

Perez secured the Indians' first five-out, one-run save since David Riske did so on May 13, 2003, against Detroit.

"Chris is fearless," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He enjoys being out there in those types of situations."

The term "old school" was used in the Tribe clubhouse to describe the save.

"Real 'old school' is three innings," Perez said with a chuckle. "I look at it this way: Yes, I'm the closer, but I'm also part of the bullpen. Certain games work out to where you're trying to get to the ninth. I was well-rested and ready to go. Whatever they need me to do, I'll do."

Perez was available Friday against the Royals.

Perez's first five-out special happened to be the first save of his career. He remembers it like it was, well . . .

"Aug. 6, 2008," Perez said. "We were playing the Dodgers in St. Louis, Casey Blake was on second and Jeff Kent was the first batter I faced."
Perez struck out Kent looking and got Angel Berroa to pop out to preserve a 9-6 lead. He walked one in the ninth.

In Perez's previous major-league appearance, he had given up a two-run walkoff homer to Jason Michaels in Pittsburgh on July 12. He was optioned to Class AAA on July 18 and recalled Aug. 6.

The second five-out save came one week later at Florida. It was considerably more dicey. With runners on second and third and the Cardinals leading, 5-4, Perez walked Dan Uggla. Then . . .

"Josh Willingham grounded to Troy Glaus, who stepped on third and threw to first," Perez said. "Double play, we're out of the inning."
Perez escaped a jam in the ninth and the Cardinals won, 6-4.

The third career five-out save occurred June 11, 2010, against Washington at Progressive Field. Protecting a five-run lead, Perez got dangerous Ryan Zimmerman to ground into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded. The Indians won, 7-2.

Only once as a major-leaguer has Perez been in position to earn a five-out save and failed to do so. On May 5 against Toronto at Progressive Field, he stranded a runner in the eighth to preserve a one-run lead but allowed three runs in the ninth and lost, 5-4. That result gets a huge asterisk, though, because all the runs were unearned after shortstop Luis Valbuena committed a two-out error.

Sizzling: Entering Friday, Perez had allowed two earned runs in his past 22 appearances, covering 22 1/3 innings since June 28. He is 11-for-12 in saves since May 18.

"His command has been tremendous the last three months," Acta said. "He's throwing a lot of strikes down in the zone. When he has command like that, he's tough to hit. Right now, if we get to him, we feel pretty good."



(cleveland.com)