How many times has Mariano Rivera been removed during an inning?

The Game Room
1

I’ve been trying to Google this without any luck.

I’ve seen Rivera blow saves and lose games, but I can’t remember him not being able to finish an inning. It must have happened…anyone know when or how many times?

2

I can’t remember having seen it myself (and I’ve also wondered about it once or twice), and I suspect it hasn’t happened in years and years. You generally don’t pull your closer when he gets into trouble because he’s the best pitcher you have available at that point in the game, and if he’s already blown the save it doesn’t make sense to pull him in most situtations. Combine that with Rivera’s prestige with the franchise and I wouldn’t be surprised if the last time he was removed from a game mid-inning was in his pre-closer days, when he was setting up John Wetteland.

3

Well, it happened in 2007: Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees Box Score: April 27, 2007 | Baseball-Reference.com and 2004: Baltimore Orioles vs New York Yankees Box Score: September 4, 2004 | Baseball-Reference.com

I have a list of appearances where he pitched 2/3 of an inning or less and his team lost. The first 9 are unavailable to me (no baseball-reference.com account), but of the other 20 only those two have him not finishing the game.

ETA: Here’s the list, btw: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/game_finder.cgi?type=p&id=riverma01#gotresults&id=riverma01&as=result_pitcher&offset=0&match=basic&suffix=&min_year_game=1995&max_year_game=2011&series=any&series_game=any&WL=L&team_id=&team_lg=&opp_id=&opp_lg=&throws=any&HV=any&game_site=&temperature_min=0&temperature_max=120&wind_speed_min=0&wind_speed_max=90&wind_direction_tolf=1&wind_direction_tocf=1&wind_direction_torf=1&wind_direction_fromlf=1&wind_direction_fromcf=1&wind_direction_fromrf=1&wind_direction_ltor=1&wind_direction_rtol=1&wind_direction_unknown=1&precipitation_unknown=1&precipitation_none=1&precipitation_drizzle=1&precipitation_showers=1&precipitation_rain=1&precipitation_snow=1&sky_unknown=1&sky_sunny=1&sky_cloudy=1&sky_overcast=1&sky_night=1&sky_dome=1&Role=noGS&DEC=any&orderby=date_game&c1criteria=IPouts&c1gtlt=lt&c1val=0.2&c2criteria=&c2gtlt=eq&c2val=0&c3criteria=&c3gtlt=eq&c3val=0&c4criteria=&c4gtlt=eq&c4val=0&c5criteria=&c5gtlt=eq&c5val=1.0&c6criteria=&firstgames=&firstteamgames=&ajax=1&submitter=1

Some weird things happen when I reverse the sort (some older games show up) so there are likely more.

4

Once. In 1960. For 20 minutes.

5

Here’s another one: Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees Box Score: April 6, 2005 | Baseball-Reference.com

6

Interesting. The first two are games where Rivera came in in non-save situations in the top of the ninth. The Yankees were behind and he was brought in to try to keep the deficit down, but failed and with the game out of hand, he was pulled. He was charged with four runs in both games. Only that April 2005 game did he get the hook after blowing a save. In that one he got two outs and Boston batted around in what had been a one-run game.

7

Can Mariano be detected inside a sealed container?

:smiley:

link

8

:smiley:

And would he be dead or alive?