On opening day of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, New York Yankees reliever Clay Holmes yielded a run in the sixth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Holmes hasn’t given up a run since, and in his latest outing, the former Slocomb High School standout broke a team record that had been held by Mariano Rivera, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the pitcher with the most saves in MLB history.
On Saturday, Holmes came on to get the final out of the eighth inning, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth in the Yankees’ 4-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The game marked the 29th consecutive scoreless outing for Holmes, breaking a New York record established by Rivera in 1999, when he went 28 games in a row without yielding a run.
“You think about this storied franchise, and you bring up the name Mariano, I mean, what more can you say,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Saturday’s game. “He’s been absolutely dominant and was again today.”
During his streak, Holmes has a 4-0 record with 11 saves. In 31.1 innings, he has allowed 21 baserunners – 15 hits, three walks and three hit batters – and struck out 33.
“Just for the fact that it’s Mariano Rivera makes it pretty special,” Holmes said. “He’s a guy I grew up watching. I think everybody knows what he’s done in this game, obviously. It’s pretty amazing, so just to be in the same category of just one little thing he’s done, it’s pretty cool.”
Holmes is five outs away from the team record for consecutive scoreless innings during the Live-Ball Era (since 1920). Jack Aker worked 33 consecutive scoreless innings across 19 games for the Yankees in 1969.
If Holmes can hold the opponent scoreless in his next appearance, he will own the 25th streak of at least 30 games without yielding a run in MLB history.
The record is 40 games, established by the Houston Astros’ Ryan Pressly across the 2018 and 2019 seasons and equaled by the Milwaukee Brewers’ Josh Hader this season. Hader’s streak started in the 2021 campaign and ended on June 7 when the Philadelphia Phillies touched him for two runs in his 20th appearance in 2022.
The single-season longest streak of 38 scoreless games was achieved by the Atlanta Braves’ Craig Kimbrel in 2011. Kimbrel is a former Lee High School and Wallace State standout.
The only pitcher with more than one streak of 30 consecutive scoreless games is former University of Mobile star J.C. Romero. He had a 32-game streak with the Minnesota Twins in 2004 and a 35-game streak with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies spanning the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
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Holmes began his Major League career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2018. Over the next four seasons, the right-hander pitched in 91 games for Pittsburgh, compiling a 5.57 earned-run average with a 5-7 record and no saves.
On July 26, 2021, the Pirates traded Holmes to the Yankees for two minor-leaguers. In 55 relief appearances with New York, Holmes has a 0.90 ERA with a 9-2 record and 11 saves.
While Holmes can touch triple digits, the 6-foot-5 right-hander’s bread-and-butter pitch is a sinker. Opposing batters are hitting .162 with a .180 slugging percentage against Holmes this season.
“His sinker, man, it’s literally a freaking bowling ball,” New York outfielder Aaron Hicks said. “The thing just shoots out of his hand, and he’s extremely accurate with it.”
Achilles tendinitis has kept Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman from pitching since May 22. Holmes has stepped into the role and earned seven saves in his past 10 appearances.
In his final two seasons at Slocomb, Holmes struck out 210 in 144.3 innings. He had planned to play at Auburn.
The Pirates drafted Holmes in the ninth round in 2011 and needed a $1.2 million signing bonus to keep him from joining the Tigers. Before Pittsburgh’s deal with Holmes, the biggest signing bonus for a ninth-round pick had been $750,000.
With the best record in the Majors at 49-17, the Yankees are scheduled to play the Tampa Bay Rays at 6:10 p.m. CDT Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.