Tribe’s K-fest finally broken at Minnesota
Carlos Carrasco struck out nine batters over five innings and Cleveland’s bullpen struck out 10 more in the Indians’ 9–3 victory at Minnesota. That tied the team record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game, set in 2015 and tied earlier this season.
It also extended Cleveland’s streak of games with at least 10 strikeouts to 13, which is the longest streak in MLB history. The previous mark of nine consecutive 10-strikeout games was set earlier this season by the Diamondbacks and matched by the Yankees. The Indians more than doubled the former record of six straight games that was set by the Mets in 1990 and which stood until five years ago.
The streak ended when Cleveland pitchers struck out only nine Twins batters in the second game of the doubleheader.
Another Twins starting pitcher makes his MLB debut
Aaron Slegers made his major-league debut as the Twins’ starting pitcher in the second game of their doubleheader against the Indians. This is the first time since the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 that four Twins players made their major-league debuts as starting pitchers in one season. The others were Nik Turley, Felix Jorge, and Dietrich Enns.
The last time that four pitchers did so for the Washington Senators, the Twins’ predecessors, was in 1950. The fourth of those pitchers to debut was Carlos Pascual, whose 1–1 career record was overshadowed by that of his brother Camilo, who debuted for the Nats in 1954 and ranks fifth in franchise history with a total of 145 wins.
As for Slegers’ performance, a big thumbs-up, as he allowed two runs on two hits over 6.1 innings in Minnesota’s 4–2 win. Over the last four seasons, only three other starting pitchers reached the seventh inning and allowed fewer than three hits in their major-league debuts: Ross Stripling of the Dodgers and Jharel Cotton of the A’s last season and Eric Skoglund of the Royals on May 30.