Through four innings of work, Rick Porcello has thrown 49 pitches. Of those 49 pitches, 38 - or 78 percent - of them have been strikes. That’s outstanding.
Tigers vs. Rangers: Rick Porcello Cruising Along
He's also struck out six batters. That's outstanding, too. Rick Porcello's career high for strikeouts in a game is eight. His season high is seven. So Porcello isn't just pounding the zone and getting weak outs on balls in play - he's limiting the balls in play, which is somewhat unlike him.
In the top of the fourth, Porcello retired the first two batters he faced. He then fell behind Michael Young 3-0 in the count, but rallied to strike him out swinging on a low-inside fastball.
Matt Harrison, for his part, was also good in the bottom of the fourth. He walked one guy, but he struck out two, and he didn't allow a run. So he kept the deficit at 2-0, established an inning earlier on Miguel Cabrera's two-run double.
And oh, as it happens, Rick Porcello just turned in a scoreless top of the fifth as I was writing this. I should probably learn to write faster, and that’s my own shortcoming, but what’s happened has happened, and in the fifth, Porcello allowed a one-out ground ball single before inducing a tapper back to the mound. Porcello wheeled around and started a 1-6-3 double play to end it.
So at the midpoint, it’s Detroit 2, and Texas 0. It continues to rain.
See More:
