After Nick Blackburn hurled 6.2 impressive innings, Glen Perkins vultured the win by giving up a run in the 8th before the Twins took the lead on a Jim Thome RBI double. The Twins quickly tacked on two more in that 8th inning rally. For a moment it looked like Nathan would not have a chance for the save, but Delmon Young was thrown out at home to keep the Twins’ lead at three.

In the 9th, Nathan did what we’ve seen him do so many times before.

He began by running a full count to Mike Aviles, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka made a nice play on a soft liner to short left field. For the second out, Jacoby Ellsbury struck out on four pitches – including two nasty breaking pitches for the last two strikes that made the All Star swing like a drunken T-Ball player. Finally, Marco Scutaro bounced out to shortstop. Interestingly, Scutaro now has his name in two footnotes in Twins history: in addition to being the last out in Nathan’s record-breaking save, he also recorded the first hit in Target Field history last April. But this was Nathan’s night, not Scutaro’s, and Nathan played his role perfectly. 

He came over to the Twins after the 2003 season in the now infamous A.J. Pierzynski trade. At the time, there was no guarantee that he could be a reliable closer, much less an elite one. Nathan had enjoyed a succesful 2003 in the Giants bullpen, winning 12 games and striking out 83 in 79 innings, but he had no track record finishing games. Nonetheless, the Twins showed faith in him, immediately placing him in the closer role left vacant by Eddie Guardado, and they were rewarded handsomely. (more…)