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Justin Verlander simply doesn't have enough starts left to make a run at the first 30-win season in the big leagues since 1968, but the Detroit right-hander is certainly putting together one of the best seasons by a starting pitcher in the past 30 years. Verlander allowed one run on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings Friday in Detroit's 8-1 win over the White Sox and picked up the victory to improve to d3 football 21-5. He has won nine straight starts -- the longest streak in the Majors this season, the longest single-season streak in the big leagues since Brandon Webb had a nine-start winning streak in 2008, and the longest for the Tigers since Denny McLain won nine straight starts in 1968. During his nine-start winning streak, Verlander has allowed 18 earned runs in 66 innings (2.45 ERA), with 71 strik d3 football eouts and 46 hits allowed. Verlander's 21st win came in Detroit's 138th game. Over the past 30 years, Verlander is the sixth pitcher to have that many victories by this point in the season. Bob Welch, with 23 in 1990, had the most. Since 1982: Most Victories Through 138 Team GamesPitcherWinsSeasonBob Welch231990Justin Verlander212011Curt Schilling212002Jack McDowell211993Frank Viola211988Roger d3 football Clemens211986Verlander is the first Tigers pitcher since Mickey Lolich in 1971 to have 21 (or more) wins through the club's 138th game. That season, Lolich had 22 victories at the 138-game mark. Verlander is the ninth pitcher in the live-ball era to go at least six innings in each of his first 30 appearances of a season. The others: Steve Carlton (38 in 1980), Bob Gibson (35 in 1969), Curt Schil d3 football ling (35 in 2002), Gibson (34 in 1968), Tom Seaver (32 in 1973), Brett Myers (32 in 2010), Fergie Jenkins (31 in 1972), and Jack McDowell (30 in 1993). When McLain won 31 games for the Tigers in 1968, he became the first pitcher since Dizzy Dean in '34 to reach the 30-win mark, and only the fourth pitcher in the live-ball era to get there. McLain made 41 starts in that year of the pitcher, and, d3 football with his six losses, had a decision in 37 of them: a helpful and impressive, but not quite historic, percentage. Since 1920, there have been 43 pitchers with least 41 starts in a season. Among those 43, Bob Feller, with 41 decisions in 42 starts in 1946 (97.6 percent), had the highest percentage of decisions. McLain completed 28 of his starts that season and threw 336 innings -- both league-lead d3 football ing totals. Eight of those complete games and 79 of those innings came during a particularly impressive streak from June 13 through July 16. During that stretch, McLain made nine starts, won them all and allowed 13 earned runs, for a 1.48 ERA. NovaIvan Nova allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings and improved to 15-4, as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays, 3-2. Nova has won 11 straight decis d3 football ions and eight straight starts. The 11-game winning streak, by decisions, is the longest in the Majors this season, the longest in the big leagues since Chris Carpenter got a win in 11 straight decisions in 2009, and the longest for a Yankees pitcher since Roger Clemens ran off 16 straight in '01. The eight-start winning streak is the second-longest in the Majors this season (to Verlander's active d3 football nine-start streak) and matches Clemens (2001) and CC Sabathia ('10) for the longest in a season for a Yankees pitcher in the past 32 years. The last Yankees pitcher to win more than eight consecutive starts in a single season was Ron Guidry, with 11 in 1979. Nova's 15 victories are the most by a Yankees rookie since Stan Bahnsen won 17 games in 1968. RangersDerek Holland (seven innings, two hit d3 football s) and two Rangers relievers combined on a two-hit shutout and Texas beat Boston, 10-0. The team shutout was the Rangers' 17th of the season, tying the franchise record set in 1977. Texas has the second-most team shutouts in the Majors this season, trailing Philadelphia's 19. The shutout was the 12th for Texas as the visiting team. That total of road shutouts is the most in the Majors this year ( d3 football the Rangers had been tied with the Phillies) and the most since the Braves had 12 in 1998. The dozen are the most for an American League team since the 1989 Angels had 12. In the DH era, the 2011 Rangers are the fourth AL team to have as many as 12 road shutouts, joining the 1973 Twins (14), 1977 Rangers (14) and the 1989 Angels. Holland's start produced a game score (an equation used to measure d3 football a pitcher's dominance) of 79 -- the fifth time this season he has put up a score that high. That total is tied for the fourth-most in the Majors. On the other side, he also has six starts with a game score of 25 or worse -- tied for the most in the Majors. Here and there #149; With Detroit's win over the White Sox, Jim Leyland joined Sparky Anderson (1,331 wins with the Tigers), Hughie Jenning d3 football s (1,131), Bucky Harris (516) and Steve O'Neill (509) as the only Tigers managers to win 500 games. Verlander has gotten the victory in 104 of Leyland's 500 Tigers wins. #149; Yankees closer Mariano Rivera struck out one in a 1-2-3 ninth inning and picked up his 596th career save to move within five of matching Trevor Hoffman's all-time record. This game marked the 205th time Rivera had recorde d3 football d a save in a contest where the final margin of victory was one run. #149; The Phillies beat the Marlins, 5-3, to improve to 88-46 on the season. The 88 wins through 134 games are the most in club history, and are tied with the 1979 Orioles for the ninth-most in the Majors in the division era. #149; The Indians beat the Royals, 5-4, and improved to 6-0 when Jim Thome is in the starting lineup. d3 football #149; The Giants beat the D-backs, 6-2, to move to within five games of Arizona for the lead in the National League West. The win marked the second in a row in which the Giants' margin of victory was four runs (they beat the Cubs 4-0 on Aug. 31). Before these two games, the last time the Giants had won a game by as many as four runs was Aug. 9, whey defeated the Pirates, 6-0. d3 football
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