The Opener: Cavalli, Ashcraft, Scherzer

The Tigers shut out the Guardians on Thursday behind 6 1/3 strong innings from Keider Montero. The righty, along with two relievers, kept Cleveland off the board without recording a strikeout. It was the first shutout with zero Ks since Rick Porcello did it with the Tigers in 2014 (h/t Jason Beck of MLB.com). 1. Cavalli loses no-hit bid in seventh Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli cruised through six innings on Thursday against the Cubs with just a walk on the ledger. That runner was erased on a double play, so he’d faced the minimum so far. Cavalli retired the first two batters of the seventh inning before allowing an opposite-field single to Michael Busch. He coaxed a flyout from Wednesday’s hero, Alex Bregman, to end the inning. Cavalli worked around a walk the next inning to complete eight frames for the first time in his career. His 10 strikeouts were the fourth time this year he’s reached double-digit punchouts. Cavalli has put together seven consecutive quality starts. 2. Ashcraft tosses complete game A meaningless solo homer by Owen Caissie in the ninth inning cost Braxton Ashcraft a “Maddux,” but his outing on Thursday deserves some type of title. The Pirates right-hander tossed his first career complete game on just 85 pitches. Ashcraft allowed three hits and walked one, but induced three double plays. Pittsburgh’s last complete game with fewer than 100 pitches came from Ivan Nova in 2017. Ashcraft seemed to be feeling his mounting workload lately, as his ERA had jumped by a run over his last seven starts. After a career-high 118 innings between the minors and majors last year, the 26-year-old is up over 140 after Thursday’s outing. He could be capped down the stretch, though that won’t be an issue whenever he’s this efficient. 3. Scherzer reaches 3K innings Although he was outdueled by Red Sox lefty Payton Tolle yesterday, Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer delivered his third straight solid outing. The 42-year-old tossed five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts. Scherzer crossed the 3,000-innings threshold with the start. He’s now at 3,004 frames for his career, which ranks 139th on the all-time leaderboard. Tigers righty Justin Verlander leads all active pitchers at 3,571 1/3 innings pitched. Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images View Comments (10)