What is a Blown Save? Definition and Examples
A blown save is charged to a relief pitcher who enters in a save situation and allows the tying run to score, forfeiting the lead his team handed him.
What is a Blown Save in Baseball?
A blown save is the official statistical record of a relief pitcher failing to protect a lead in a save situation. The instant a reliever enters with a chance to earn a save and then allows the tying run to cross the plate, he is charged with a blown save — regardless of whether his team ultimately wins or loses the game. It is the negative counterpart to the save, and the two together describe how reliably a pitcher closes out games. A blown save is one of the most emotionally charged outcomes in baseball because it erases a lead the rest of the team built over eight innings.
How a Blown Save Is Charged
The criteria are mechanical. A pitcher is in a save situation if he enters with a lead and meets one of these conditions: the tying run is on base, at bat, or on deck; or he is protecting a lead of three or fewer runs with at least one inning to pitch; or he pitches at least three effective innings to finish the game. If the tying run scores while that pitcher is responsible for it, the official scorer charges a blown save — even on an inherited runner, even if a teammate's error let the run in, and even if the pitcher's team rallies to win.
Key nuance: a blown save and a loss are separate. A reliever can blow the save in the ninth, his offense can score in the tenth, and he can be credited with the win and the blown save in the same game. The stat is also independent of holds, which apply to middle relievers who maintain (not finish) a lead.
Worked Example
Even the greatest closers blow saves. Mariano Rivera, baseball's all-time saves leader with 652 career saves, also recorded 80 career blown saves — a roughly 89% conversion rate over 19 seasons. His most famous blown save came in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, when he surrendered the walk-off run to the Diamondbacks. That a Hall of Famer with the best save total ever still blew one save in roughly nine attempts shows how unforgiving the ninth inning is.
A typical full-time closer converts 30–40 saves with 4–7 blown saves in a season; a closer who blows 8 or more often loses the role by midseason.
Why Blown Saves Matter
Blown saves drive bullpen decisions and roster moves more directly than almost any other reliever stat. A string of them gets a closer demoted or designated for assignment, and a low blown-save count helps relievers earn the save totals that command large arbitration and free-agent salaries. For fantasy and DFS players, blown saves are a category in some formats and a warning sign in all of them: a volatile closer threatens your saves while bleeding ERA and WHIP.
Limitations and Common Misconceptions
A blown save says nothing about how hard the situation was. Entering with a one-run lead and the bases loaded is far tougher than a three-run cushion with the bases empty, yet both produce the same blown save if the tie scores — Leverage Index captures that difference and blown-save totals do not. The stat also unfairly tags pitchers for inherited runners and teammates' errors. Finally, a blown save is not automatically a loss, and a low blown-save total can simply mean a manager protected a reliever by using him only in easy spots.
Related Terms
In Legends Deck: A reliever's blown-save rate feeds directly into his card's composure and late-inning ratings. High-conversion arms like a Rivera card hold leads in the simulation's highest-leverage moments, while a volatile closer card carries real risk of surrendering the tying run — making your bullpen-management decisions matter when the game is on the line.