Salomón Torres

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**Salomón Torres**

Pittsburgh Pirates — No. 16
Pitcher
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
August 29, 1993 for the San Francisco Giants
Selected MLB statistics (through 2007)
Record	35-49
Strikeouts	444
ERA	4.32
Innings pitched	714.7

Salomon Ramirez Torres (born March 11, 1972 in San Pedro De Macoris, Dominican Republic) is a pitcher currently with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. He began his career in 1993 with the San Francisco Giants, and has also played for the Seattle Mariners of the American League and the Montreal Expos of the NL.

Torres is best-known for starting the last game of the 1993 season, when he gave up 3 runs over 3⅓ innings to the Dodgers. The Giants, winners of 103 games that season, ended up in second place behind the 104-win Atlanta Braves, who were still in the National League West division. Giants fans blamed Torres for ruining a promising season, never forgave him, and he is still heckled when he returns as an opposing player. Says Torres: "They come to the park and they pay my salary, so they have the right to heckle me. If that's going to make them feel better and get over what happened in 1993, OK. But it's time to move on...I don't think I was treated fairly by some of my teammates. And I still don't think I'm being treated fairly by the fans."^[1]

After ending the 1997 season with a 9.82 ERA, Torres retired and returned to the Dominican Republic to coach for the Expos' Dominican Summer League team. In 2001, he decided to make a comeback, and spent the year playing in the Dominican Winter League and in Korea. He signed with the Pirates in January of 2002, spending most of the year with the AAA team in Nashville before being called up in September. He split the 2003 season between starting and relief work before being moved to the bullpen full-time in 2004. He served as the Pirates setup reliever in 2006 before closer Mike González was injured. That year his 94 pitching appearances led the major leagues and tied the Pirates record held by Kent Tekulve. González was traded to the Atlanta Braves before the start of the 2007 season, making Torres the Pirates top choice for closer entering the 2007 season.^[2]