Holland tabbed for July's Delivery Man award
Royals closer converted all of his 11 save opportunities with a 0.82 ERA
KANSAS CITY -- Royals closer Greg Holland was named Major League Baseball's Delivery Man of the Month for July.
Holland, who also appeared in the All-Star Game, converted all 11 of his save opportunities in July and posted a 0.82 ERA -- allowing just one run on nine hits with one walk and 15 strikeouts. He held opponents to a .209 batting average.
"I guess it means we had a pretty good month if Royals players are getting recognized for an award," Holland said. "That's really all I'm concerned about and that really says a lot about our bullpen as a whole. The more times we win the games, the more times we're leading in the ninth."
Entering Tuesday night's game against the Twins, Holland was 2-1 with 29 saves and a 1.67 ERA. His 22 consecutive saves ranks third in Royals history behind Joakim Soria (36) and Jeff Montgomery (24). With one more save, Holland would become the fourth Royals pitcher with 30 saves in season -- joining Montgomery and Dan Quisenberry who accomplished the feat five times, and Soria who did it on three occasions. Holland's 49 career saves rank seventh in franchise history.
Holland is the second Royals pitcher to win the award, joining Soria who received the award in September 2008 and September '09.