Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres was certainly worth the price of admission and then some as those in attendance and those watching were treated to a truly historic pitchers duel, something that is becoming increasingly rare in the modern age of baseball.
Tyler Glasnow took the mound for the Dodgers and continued his fantastic start to the season.
He pitched seven innings while striking out 10 and walking two. A solo home run in the third was the only hit and blemish on his otherwise excellent game.
The bad news for the Dodgers was that Michael King matched Glasnow pitch for pitch and even managed to out-duel L.A.’s right-hander.
King had to manage a little more traffic on the bases with three walks and two hits surrendered to the Dodgers, but he was able to pitch his way out of trouble. Overall, King also pitched seven innings, struck out 11 and left the game with the Padres leading 1-0.
It was as dominant of a combined pitching performance as MLB has seen in quite a while, according to OptaSTATS:
Tonight's @Dodgers – @Padres game is the only MLB game in the modern era in which both starting pitchers (Tyler Glasnow, Michael King) went at least 7.0 innings with 10+ strikeouts and 2 or fewer hits allowed. pic.twitter.com/cQXYOiQZnU
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 11, 2024
Glasnow has been no stranger to this type of performance in 2024. He had his first game of seven innings and 10+ strikeouts back on April 9 against the Minnesota Twins.
However, in his last four starts, Glasnow has settled in and had been the pitcher the Dodgers were hoping for when they traded for him from the Tampa Bay Rays and signed him to an expensive extension.
In his last 28 innings Glasnow only given up four runs averaged seven innings per start. He is among the league-leaders in innings pitched and leads the Majors in strikeouts by a comfortable margin.
King made his way to the Padres this season in the trade that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees. A reliever for parts of six seasons with the Yankees, King made the transition to be a full-time starter in his first year with the Padres.
King had already blurred the line quite a bit between both roles in 2023, pitching 104.2 innings out of the bullpen. He has gotten better as the season continues with a 3.24 ERA in his last seven games, but consistency has been a problem for him as well.
Dodgers’ winning streak snapped at seven
The Dodgers’ season-high winning streak has stopped at seven games following Friday’s loss to the Padres. Both of the Dodgers’ biggest winning streaks have come within the past three weeks as part of their impressive 14-3 stretch, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts saying it has been ‘as good as he’s seen’ the team play under his watch.
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