On Saturday night, the Baltimore Orioles survived a late comeback attempt from the Kansas City Royals (BAL 9, KC 7) to improve their record to 13-7. The O's scored seven runs in the second inning, though Kansas City did damage against the bullpen, and at one point got to within 8-7. Baltimore was able to hang on for the win though.
Craig Kimbrel, who's allowed one run and struck out 14 against zero walks in nine innings this season, closed out Saturday's game. It was his fifth save of the season and the 422nd save of his career, moving him into a tie with Billy Wagner for seventh place on the all-time saves list. Here is a career saves leaderboard:
- Mariano Rivera: 652
- Trevor Hoffman: 601
- Lee Smith: 478
- Francisco Rodríguez: 437
- Kenley Jansen: 425
- John Franco: 424
- Craig Kimbrel and Billy Wager: 422
A milestone save calls for saving the ball, but there was one small problem: Colton Cowser chucked it into the stands. Cowser, the left fielder, caught the final out of the game, then threw the ball towards the fans. Fortunately, it landed in one of the famed Kauffman Stadium fountains, and they were able to retrieve it for Kimbrel.
"I just yeeted it behind me," Cowser said after the game (via MLB.com). "... Right when I threw it, I said, 'Craig has a lot of saves, that one might have been important'. I literally told (center fielder Cedric Mullins) right whenever, 'I might have messed up.' And it turns out I did. We got the ball back, though."
Cowser said there were two balls in the fountain and one was very old, so it was easy to tell which one was the milestone ball. Once they identified the ball, a stadium worker was able to retrieve it, so Kimbrel has the memorabilia from his 422nd save.
"That's a fine, isn't it? We've got to do something about that," manager Brandon Hyde joked after the game (via MLB.com).
The O's shouldn't be too hard on Cowser though. They were able to retrieve the ball and the young man is hitting .375/.404/.750 with four home runs in 19 games this season. Cowser was the No. 5 pick in the 2021 draft and he is part of the young, emergent core for these upstart Orioles.
