How does Baseball reference acknowledge "saves" stats?

[John1941]

Originally Posted by ALBB

I thought the rule was - pitcher come in game ..and tying or winning run on base, at bat, OR - ON Deck ??

The current rule says that:

"A relief pitcher recording a save must preserve his team's lead while doing one of the following:
Enter the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitch at least one inning.
Enter the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases.
Pitch at least three innings."

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/standard-stats/save

So if you pitch the last three innings of a 30-3 win you get the save (this happened to a Rangers pitcher around twenty years back.)