@Yankees 7, Rays 0: Wow, Andy Pettitte! He shut down Tampa on 2 walks and 2 singles — one infield, one grounder into right — through 7.1 IP, with 10 strikeouts, including 5 straight. The Rays had 3 ABs against him with a runner in scoring position, and Andy fanned ’em all.
@Athletics 10, Rangers 1: Oakland cruised after an 8-run 2nd — 3 more than their previous high inning — while rookie Jarrod Parker held the Rangers hitless through 7 IP before Michael Young‘s clean single up the middle.
Yankees 5, @Tigers 1: Derek Jeter hit the game’s first pitch over the wall in right, Phil Hughes tossed a 4-hitter for the first 9-inning CG of his career, and Justin Verlander lost a 3rd straight start for the first time since 2008.
A few notes on Saturday’s games.
Orioles 2, @Rays 1: For the first time since last Saturday, the O’s managed to ferry a lead to their lights-out bullpen. Pedro Strop frayed some nerves after inheriting 2 men on with 1 out in the 8th, moving them up with a wild pitch and loading the bases with a walk. But Ben Zobrist hit the first pitch for a GIDP, and Jim Johnson pitched a perfect 9th to snap Balto’s 6-game slide and notch his MLB-high 17th save.
A variously detailed look at a selection of non-no-hitters….
@White Sox 7, Mariners 4: You win this kind of game when you’re on a streak. Jake Peavy cruised into the 7th with a 4-0 lead (1 hit, 2 walks), but it slipped away over the next 2 innings, mainly on big hits by Kyle Seager (who’s hitting lefties as well as righties). Chi fans needn’t have fretted: M’s CF Michael Saunders (who made a great catch in the 7th to start a DP) took an embarrassing facial to start the 8th, and Chicago scored 3 unearned runs after 2 were out.
I had to separate this from the “…by decade” post, due to data limitations. Here are all individual shutout streaks of 3 or more since 1918. Streaks spanning years are included.
By request of HHS reader Brett, here are the longest individual shutout streaks since 1918, broken down by decade. Note that streaks spanning two seasons are included, except those that spanned two decades (because I don’t want to spend my morning editing tables). See separate post for composite list of all shutout streaks of 3 or more since 1918.
Only 3 games were played Thursday. Let’s see how much can be squeezed out of those box scores.
Tigers 7, @Red Sox 3: Miggy stole, Prince tripled, Delmon homered, Pods hit one over the CF, and the Tigers won a game — what the Sam Hill is goin’ on here?
More K-rate madness: Max Scherzer leads MLB with 11.7 SO/9, and his gross K rate of 29% of all batters faced ranks 3rd among qualifiers (behind Gio & Strassy). Yet he has allowed 10.7 H/9 and a .296 batting average. That combination is completely unprecedented:
(Updated … again … and again)
@Red Sox 6, Tigers 4: In last place through May 10, Boston has gone 14-5 since then, and find themselves … still alone in last place. (For those who don’t know, all statistical nuggets in these pages originate with me, unless attributed; I heard that one on SportsCenter and couldn’t resist.) The difference between their first 31 games (12-19) and these last 19 has been mostly on the defensive side; they allowed 5.8 R/G before, 3.4 since. Their own scoring is virtually unchanged at 5.3 R/G, but more level; in the first period they had 8 games of 10+ runs (7-1) but also 9 games of 2 or less (1-8). In the latter period, 15 of 19 games have fallen between 3 and 7 runs.
Meanwhile, what ails the Tigers? For one thing, the offense is mysteriously inefficient: