DENVER – Before stepping into situations like the one he inherited in the seventh inning on Tuesday night – the bases loaded, the tying run on third, something resembling the season on the line – Brad Ziegler tries to breathe.
For years, he allowed his heart to race and his actions to speed up, and he realized this led to mistakes. He is older now – and wiser, he hopes – and he thinks his ability to keep calm under duress partly explains how he was able to wiggle out of a jam in the Diamondbacks’ 6-3 victory at Coors Field, the second time in five days he recorded his team’s biggest out of the night.