Six innings, no runs, two hits, five strike outs, no walks. There's Kenny Rogers' line from tonight, his first start this season and one of the more impressive in his long career.
It's always impressive when you shut a team down. It's better when you shut a team out. But when you shut a team out during your first start of the season after missing two and a half months because you had a blood clot in your shoulder and you only had 8 and 2/3 innings of rehab work in the minor leagues before said start? Well, then you're just fucking amazing
Rogers looked better than sharp, he looked incredible. He had no hit ball through 3 and 2/3 and allowed just one more hit after that. Of course, he started a bit rocky- a hit batsmen with his first pitch of the night. But after that, 10 Atlanta Braves in a row were set down. For a team that has been winning a lot of games 12-4 and 9-5 recently, getting a pitching performance that was as dominant as this one reminds one a lot of last year. It's the same formula.
And yes, dating back to last season now, Rogers has thrown 29 straight scoreless innings. Sorry, thrown isn't the proper term- he's pitched those innings. The Gambler knows himself better than anyone: he knew that he was able to return after so few innings in the minors, he knew when to drop down and throw side arm on a few sliders, and he knew exactly how to roll through a young Braves team.
While Kenny's return was sweet, you know what's even sweeter, Tiger fans? Cleveland lost to the Nationals 4-1, marking the Tigers' return to first place in the AL Central.
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