Bob
Wickman’s 221st save came with no surprises-it was the usual gut
wrenching, no room for errors nail-biter that has become his trademark since his
return from Tommy John surgery in 2004.
After
the Tribe added an insurance run against Texas in the top of the ninth at the
Jake, Bobby entered the 7-5 game to face the heart of the Rangers order.
Michael
Young greeted our hero with a double down the right-field line, and was brought
home with a Mark Teixeira drive off the left-field wall to cut the lead to 7-6
with no outs.
After
a Phil Nevin ground ball advanced Teixeira to third, Bobzilla emerged for his
first appearance in Cleveland this year.
With
the heat turned up a few notches, the Wickster began to get nasty. He retired
the dangerous Hank Blalock on a fly ball to Casey Blake in short right, who
proceeded to fire a perfect strike to Victor Martinez at home, holding the tying
run at third with two outs.
Enter
Kevin Mench, who became the first right-handed batter in major-league history to
homer in seven consecutive games when he went deep against Guillermo Mota in the
eighth inning. A dramatic 9-pitch battle ensued, with Bobby ending the threat
and the game by inducing a harmless pop out to Ronnie Belliard at second.
A
fired-up Bobby Wick pumped his fists, shouted and walked around hugging everyone
in sight.
“I
wasn’t pumped because I tied the record, I was more excited about getting out
of a jam. It’s fine with me if I don’t get any saves as long as we win,”
said the Wickster. “I made quality pitches. If something had happened, I’d
have gone home knowing I got beat with good pitches.”
Next up: Bob Wickman becomes the Cleveland Indians all-time saves leader. Don’t miss one pitch of baseball’s ultimate adrenaline rush! Same Wick- time, same Wick-channel…