Edwin Diaz Becomes 17th Player in Major League Baseball History with 50 Saves in a Season

Edwin Diaz has earned a spot in Seattle Mariners history…

The 24-year-old Puerto Rican baseball pitcherhad a rare night of struggles, facing runners on the corners with no outs in a one-run game. A rundown and two fly outs later, the Seattle closer reached a rare milestone.

Edwin Diaz

Diaz worked out of a jam in the 10th inning to become the 17th player in Major League Baseball history with 50 saves in a season and Denard Span hit a solo home run in the top half to lift the Mariners to a 4-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.

Arizona took a 3-1 lead in the seventh on A.J. Pollock‘s broken-bat, two-run single, but the Diamondbacks couldn’t hold it.

Brad Boxberger walked a batter and gave up a single to put runners at the corners in the ninth. Kyle Seager hit a two-run double just inside the line in right to tie it.

“He just hit it in the right spot and that’s what happened,” Boxberger said. “It just didn’t work out today.”

Jake Diekman (0-1) got the first out of the 10th before Span sent a drive onto the pool deck in right-center for the go-ahead run.

Arizona had runners at the corners after a pair of singles off Diaz in the 10th, but Paul Goldschmidt got caught in a rundown trying to score on David Peralta‘s grounder to third. Diaz got Nick Ahmed and Ketel Marte to fly out to reach the 50-save milestone.