Monday, April 26, 1999
Williamson gets save to match his stuff
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Scott Williamson always has thrown like a closer. What the Reds have been working on this season is getting him to think like a closer.
Sunday's game was a big leap forward. Williamson, a 23-year-old right-hander, pitched the final three innings of the Reds' 7-6 win over the Houston Astros for his first career save.
Williamson had the fans on their feet in the ninth inning when he struck out Jeff Bagwell on four pitches. When Bagwell took his final swing, Cinergy Field got as loud as it gets these days.
“Man, he was nasty today,” Reds captain Barry Larkin said. “Throwing hard, good control.”
Williamson is starting to feelat home on a major-league mound.
“It's been a gradual maturing process,” pitching coach Don Gullett said. “He needs to get his feet wet and have some success. It's a matter of knowing he belongs here.
“You look at his stuff, it's closer stuff.”
Williamson's fastball reaches 97 mph, and he has a nasty slider and split-finger fastball. It was that stuff that earned Williamson a job. He was a ninth-
round pick in the 1997 draft but as a non-roster invitee to spring training, he was a long shot to make the team.
Sunday, Williamson struck out four in his three innings and only allowed one hit.
The one hit Williamson allowed — a home run by Derek Bell in the ninth — was another lesson learned.
He blew two fastballs by Bell to get ahead 0-2. Then Williamson tried to blow up the radar gun. The next pitch was in the dirt. The one after that was about six feet high and well outside.
The fifth pitch was a fastball that Bell blasted for a home run. The home run was preferable to a walk in the Reds' eyes.
“You've got to challenge guys,” Gullett said. “He can't hit a two-run homer with no one on base.”
Williamson rebounded to strike out Bagwell to end the game.
“It feels outstanding,” he said of the save. “Now, I've got something to show instead of a loss. I lost a game for Pete Harnisch earlier this year. I really wanted to close it out.”
If Williamson can string together some more good outings, he'll get a shot at more saves.
“We don't recognize anyone as the closer,” McKeon said. “We've said since spring that we're grooming him for that role. But that takes time.”
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