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, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather d ...
. 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) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
(),
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) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...
(, –),
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 ...
(–), and
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
(–).
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 t ...
, 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 ...
ball against the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They p ...
. 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 grou ...
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.
Com ...
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 i ...
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 fra ...
.
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 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
history, Game 3 of the
2005 World Series
The 2005 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2005 Major League Baseball season, 2005 season. The 101st edition of the World Series, it was a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven ...
. 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 with ...
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 batt ...
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 baseb ...
, 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.
Amateur career
McCutchen attended Norman High School in ...
.
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 ...
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) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...
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 ...
, 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