Dámaso Marte Saviñón (born February 14, 1975) is a Dominican former professional baseball

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

. He played for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

(),

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

(, –),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

(–), and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

(–).

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

Marte was signed as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the Seattle Mariners in . He made his major league debut on June 30, 1999 during a 14–5 loss against the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

, allowing three earned runs in an inning of work.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On November 16, , Marte signed with the New York Yankees, but was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 13, 2001, for

Enrique Wilson Enrique Wilson Martes (born July 27, 1973) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. In his eight-season Major League Baseball career, Wilson played with the Cleveland Indians (1997–2000), Pittsburgh Pirates (2000–01), New York Yan ...

. In his Pirates debut, he hurled three innings of one-

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

ball against the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

. He went on to throw 14 innings in which he only allowed one

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denot ...

a career-high five batters against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Chicago White Sox

On March 27, 2002, Marte along with Edwin Yan were traded to the Chicago White Sox for

Matt Guerrier Matthew Olson Guerrier (born August 2, 1978) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. Amateur career A native of Cleveland ...

. In , he enjoyed his most successful big league season, where he went 4–2 with a 1.58

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

in 79.7 innings pitched where he struck out a career high 87 batters. He continued his success in when he held opposing batters to a .217

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and left-handed batters to an average of .143. He also matched his career high for strikeouts in a game with 5 against the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

. A notable achievement for him was being the winning pitcher in the longest game in

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

history, Game 3 of the

2005 World Series The 2005 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2005 season. The 101st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Chicago White Sox and the National ...

. In that game, he tossed 1.2 scoreless innings and struck out three batters in the 14 inning win over the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

. The White Sox would then win the World Series against the Astros in 4 games.

Second stint with Pirates

On December 8, 2005, the White Sox traded Marte back to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for

Rob Mackowiak Robert William Mackowiak (; born June 20, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player. During his Major League Baseball career, he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres, and Washington Nationals. Per ...

. Marte made three relief appearances in the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...

for the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

in 2006. Come the regular season, he went on to struggle a bit in where he lost seven straight games as a reliever but still averaged 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. In , he enjoyed some success where he held left-handed batters to a .094 batting average. He also did not allow a hit in 32 consecutive

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s against left-handers which happened to be the longest streak of consecutive hitless at-bats by a left-handed batter against any pitcher in the MLB. For a stint, after an injury to

Matt Capps Matthew Dicus Capps (born September 3, 1983) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He is a 2002 graduate of Alexander High School in Douglasville, Georgia, where he lettered in football, basketball, cross-country and basebal ...

, Marte was the Pirates

closing pitcher In baseball, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer (abbreviated CL), is a relief pitcher who specializes in getting the final outs in a close game when his team is leading. The role is often assigned to a team's best relieve ...

, and was fairly successful. During his stint as closer, he was traded to the New York Yankees.

New York Yankees

On July 26, 2008, Marte and

Xavier Nady Xavier Clifford Nady VI (; born November 14, 1978) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman. Nady played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Ari ...

were traded to the Yankees in exchange for

José Tábata José Nicolas Tábata (born August 12, 1988) is a Venezuelan professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He was an international signee (2005) of the New York Yankees and, by 2008, became the Yankees' No. 2 prospect. He played in Major L ...

Ross Ohlendorf Curtis Ross Ohlendorf (born August 8, 1982) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers, and Ci ...

Jeff Karstens Jeffrey Wayne Karstens (born September 24, 1982) is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). Karstens pitched for the New York Yankees in 2006 and 2007 and the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2008 to 2012. High schoo ...

, and

Daniel McCutchen Daniel Thomas McCutchen (born September 26, 1982) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. Amateur career McCutchen attend ...

. In his Yankees debut, he relieved

José Veras José Enger Veras Romero (born October 20, 1980) is a Dominican former professional baseball relief pitcher. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization in 1998. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2006 with the New York ...

(for only one batter), and faced

David Ortiz David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American former designated hitter (DH) and first baseman in Major League Baseball who played in the American League (AL) from 1997 to 2016, primarily wit ...

, who struck out swinging. Following the 2008 season, the Yankees declined Marte's option. However, the Yankees then re-signed him to a new three-year deal with an option for a fourth. Following a disappointing regular season in which Marté posted an ERA of 9.45, he delivered an extraordinary performance for the Yankees in the playoffs. After a shaky first outing in Game 2 of the

2009 American League Division Series The 2009 American League Division Series (ALDS) consisted of two concurrent best-of-five game series that determined the participating teams in the 2009 American League Championship Series. Three divisional winners and a " wild card" team playe ...

, in which he surrendered two consecutive singles to the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

before being relieved, Marte retired all twelve of the remaining batters he faced during the postseason. During Game 6 of the

2009 World Series The 2009 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2009 season. As the 105th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National Leag ...

, Marte faced

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

stars

Chase Utley Chase Cameron Utley (born December 17, 1978), nicknamed "The Man" and "Silver Fox", is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons, primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. He ...

and

Ryan Howard Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979), nicknamed "the Big Piece", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Howard spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, from to . He is ...

, striking out both of them on the minimum six pitches. Marte and the Yankees went on to win Game 6, clinching the Series for the team's 27th championship. Marte missed much of the 2010 season due to left arm inflammation. He underwent left shoulder surgery late in the 2010 season and was knocked out for the entire 2011 season. In late June, Marte started to play catch in his journey to recovery. He became a free agent at the end of the 2011 season after the Yankees declined his 2012 option and paid him a $250,000 buyout.

Children's Foundation

Marte supports a children's foundation in his name.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marte, Damaso 1975 births Living people Arizona League Mariners players Charlotte Knights players Chicago White Sox players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Everett AquaSox players Lancaster JetHawks players Gulf Coast Yankees players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Nashville Sounds players New Haven Ravens players New York Yankees players Norwich Navigators players Orlando Rays players Pittsburgh Pirates players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Santo Domingo Tacoma Rainiers players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players World Baseball Classic players of the Dominican Republic 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players