Well, that’s a heck of a way to make a first impression on your team.
Former Tennessee Volunteers pitcher Blade Tidwell, with Tony Vitello watching from the dugout, took the mound on Thursday night in San Francisco, just hours after getting called up from Triple-A Sacramento. And in a storybook fashion, he put up a goose egg across three innings to earn his first-ever MLB save.
Tidwell got things going quickly, inducing a 5-4-3 double play from Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez to snuff out any hopes of a rally in the seventh. He faced the minimum in the eighth as well. After Juan Soto singled with one out, he got a bit of a break from the baseball Gods, with Bo Bichette’s line drive going right into the glove of first baseman Casey Schmitt, who stepped on first to end the inning.
Then, in the ninth, Tidwell recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the game, showing off a nasty sweeper to get both hitters.
With him pitching three innings, he earned the save regardless of the lead being more than three runs in the ninth inning.
That’s a pretty cool milestone for the former Vol, particularly given he was called up just that day. We’ll see how long he ends up staying up at San Francisco, but regardless, it was a solid showing and certainly a memory that he’ll never forget.
