Melancon had huge impact in short time with Bucs
Mark Melancon is gone but he shouldn鈥檛 be forgotten.
The Pirates traded their closer to the Washington Nationals on July 29 for left-handed reliever Felipe Rivero and a minor leaguer.
One has to stop short of calling Melancon the greatest relief pitcher in the history of a franchise that has also had such stellar bullpenners as Mace Brown, ElRoy Face and Kent Tekulve. However, Melancon was awfully good during his nearly four seasons with the Pirates.
Acquired from the Boston Red on Dec. 26, 2012 in a trade, Melancon converted 130 of 144 save opportunities 鈥� 90.3 percent 鈥� during his four seasons while notching a 1.80 ERA.
Melancon is fourth on the Pirates鈥� all-time saves list behind Tekulve (158), Mike Williams (140) and Dave Giusti (133). Face would have been credited with 186 but the save rule did not go into effect until 1969, his last year in the major leagues.
However, Melancon鈥檚 save percentage was better than each of the three pitchers ahead of him on the saves list as Williams had an 86.4-percent conversion rate while Giusti鈥檚 was 78.2 and Tekulve鈥檚 was 71.5.
Melancon is also the only Pirates pitcher to work at least 250 innings and have an ERA under 2.00. Jesse Tannehill is second on the list with a 2.07 mark in his two years with Pittsburgh in 1901 and 1902.
Of those who have pitched for the Pirates since the end of World War I, the closest to Melancon is new closer Tony Watson, who entered the weekend with a 2.47 ERA over six seasons.
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Thanks in large part to Melancon and Watson, the Pirates entered the weekend a perfect 50-0 this season in games in which they led after the eighth inning.
Just three other teams were perfect when they were ahead after eight 鈥� the Cleveland Indians (54-0), Baltimore Orioles (51-0) and San Diego Padres (37-0).
The downside was that the Pirates were 0-50 when trailed after eight innings.
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The Pirates had a plus-11 run differential in July, scoring 107 runs and allowing 96 while going 14-10.
The differential ranked sixth in the National League and 12th in the major leagues. The Los Angeles Angels led the major leagues with plus-50 and the Los Angeles Dodgers topped the NL at plus-32.