The Detroit Tigers’ recent slide may have continued with a 7-4 loss against the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend, but one of the newest members of the Detroit ball club inserted himself into an interesting group of pitchers.
According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Tigers pitcher Charlie Morton, who was traded to Detroit from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline, joined Nolan Ryan and John Smoltz as the only pitchers above the age of 40 in MLB history to record seven or more consecutive strikeouts in a game since the league’s expansion era began in 1961.
Ryan achieved his on July 7, 1991, at 44 years and 157 days old with the Texas Rangers, and Smoltz accomplished the feat on August 23, 2009 with the St. Louis Cardinals in his final big league season, aged 42 years and 100 days.
And now, we have Charlie Morton, who got it done Saturday, when he was 41 years and 270 days old.
In his 4.1 innings of work, Morton struck out 10 batters, but gave up six earned runs as the Angels took the win.
The loss and then Sunday’s win brought the Tigers to a 68-51 record, the team still ahead comfortably of the Cleveland Guardians by six games now as they look to finish strong and make it to the playoffs as the champions of the American League Central.
