Porcello did something on Tuesday that hadn't been done in a quarter century.
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Rick Porcello tossed his second consecutive shutout on Tuesday in his team's 3-0 win over the Oakland Athletics, pushing his scoreless innings streak to 25⅓ innings.
Porcello became the first Tigers pitcher since Jack Morris in 1986 to post consecutive shutouts, but it was how he accomplished the latest one that is the real treat. The 25-year-old right-hander did not issue a walk or strike out a batter during the game. That hadn't happened in the big leagues since Porcello was roughly eight months old. That's when Jeff Ballard, then pitching for the Baltimore Orioles, didn't walk or strike out anyone in the Milwaukee Brewers' lineup in a complete-game shutout on Aug. 21, 1989.
It took Porcello only 95 pitches to dispatch of the Athletics, earning him a coveted "Maddux." He's the fourth pitcher to toss a shutout on 99-or-fewer pitches this season, joining Josh Collmenter, Kyle Lohse and Henderson Alvarez, who has done it twice.
Porcello allowed only four hits and recorded 17 ground-ball outs on Tuesday, lowering his career-best ERA to 3.12 and tying New York Yankees rookie Masahiro Tanaka for the major league lead in wins with 11.