The 2024 Major League Baseball postseason began on Tuesday. The most notable story was the fact that three starting pitchers were completely sensational. They were Detroit Tigers starter and overwhelming American League Cy Young favourite Tarik Skubal of Hayward, California, Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Cole Ragans of Gainesville, Florida, and San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King of Rochester, New York. Skubal, Ragans and King combined to pitch 19 scoreless innings.
Tarik Skubal
Skubal pitched six innings in a 3-1 Tigers win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. He threw 88 pitches, and had 64 strikes. Skubal had strikeouts, and gave up four hits and one walk. Houston’s lone run came in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Tigers’s relief pitching. Houston actually had the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Jason Hayward hit a line drive to first base which was caught by Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson of Petaluma, California for the third out.
Cole Ragans
Ragans pitched six innings in a 1-0 Royals win over the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He threw 80 pitched of which 60 were strikes. Ragans also had pinpoint control as he had eight strikeouts, zero walks and only gave up four hits. Kansas City’s lone run came from Bobby Witt Jr. of Colleyville, Texas. It was a RBI single in the sixth inning, which scored third baseman Maikel Garcia of La Sabana, Venezuela.
Michael King
King was also flawless on Tuesday in a 4-0 Padres win over the Atlanta Braves. Of King’s 89 pitches, 65 were strikes. He threw seven innings, and gave up five hits, to go along with 12 strikeouts and zero walks. King’s 12 strikeouts were the second most strikeouts by a Padres pitcher in a postseason game. Kevin Brown of Milledgeville, Georgia has the Padres record as he had 16 strikeouts in a 2-1 Padres win over the Houston Astros in game one of the 1998 National League Divisional Series.
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