Upon hearing that Francisco Liriano had signed a 2-year deal with Pittsburgh, I checked his recent stats and guessed that he was the wildest starting pitcher over the last two years.

My guess was off by one spot. But look at the across-the-board closeness of these two-year stats:

What’s more:

1. Liriano and Volquez were born not 4 months apart in 1983, in neighboring cities (San Cristobal and Santo Domingo) along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic.
2. They had similar minor-league stats.
3. They reached the majors six days apart in 2005, each pitching in a game that his team lost by shutout — Volquez pitching for Texas, Liriano against Texas.
4. Each allowed an extra-base hit to his first batter — a double off Volquez, a HR off Liriano.
5. Each was an All-Star in his official rookie year. Neither won the Rookie of the Year award, but each each topped the eventual ROY winner in WAR, Volquez with 4.5 pitching WAR, Liriano 4.4.
6. Each has one career complete game, a 1-0 shutout win. Liriano tossed a no-hitter in 2011, while Volquez hurled a one-hitter last July, allowing just an infield single.
7. Each made his lone postseason start on October 6, 2010, in a Division Series opener. Each allowed 4 runs in losing to a  former AL Cy Young Award winner who won exactly 21 games that year (and would win exactly 19 the next) — Liriano losing to Sabathia, and Volquez falling before Halladay’s no-hitter. Each team got swept.
8. Each pitcher is now 29 years old and has yet to reach 200 IP in a season, though each has topped 190 IP and has one 200-K season.
9. In his final inning of 2012, the 4th inning, each allowed 3 hits and 2 walks, and retired two batters, on a swinging strikeout and a groundball forceout.
10. Each has a career high Game Score of 87. Liriano’s is not the no-hitter.

I don’t know about their high games in bowling. And we all know that when you go looking for “eerie similarities,” you generally find some. But I still think the list above is plenty weird.