Devil Rays set a modern era record

Utter dominance

That’s the only way to describe the Rays pitcher’s performance on Saturday night against the Tigers, which they did while wearing their Devil Rays throwback uniforms: 24 strikeouts, 0 walks, and too many ugly swings and uncomfortable at-bats to count.

Since the modern era, and as far back as Baseball Reference will go (1908) there has never been a team to do what the Rays did on Saturday night.

But the previous holder of the record was much more recent than 1908. The Rays took the honor from Chris Sale and the Red Sox bullpen, who struck out 22 Orioles while walking none in 12 innings, on May 8 of just this year.

The record for most strikeouts in a game is 26, jointly held by four teams.

Here’s how each of the DRays pitchers performed over 13 peerless innings:

Ryan Yarbrough - 6.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K

Chaz Roe - 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Nick Anderson - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Emilio Pagan - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Diego Castillo - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Colin Poche - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Ryan Yarbrough’s first start since the brilliant, near complete game-shutout was not quite as many innings but just as filthy. Yarbrough is quickly proving himself to be taking his game to another level.

As for the bullpen, this performance should not come as a shock to anyone. Since June 1st, the Rays bullpen leads the majors in pitching WAR (2.7 fWAR), 4th in Win Probability Added (1.41), 2nd in ERA ( 3.97), 2nd in FIP (4.09), 2nd lowest BB% (7.7%), and 2nd in K% (26.3%). This bullpen is downright unfair, and it’s getting stronger.

Okay, one last stat I just have to share to illustrate just how silly dominant the Devil Rays pitchers were on Saturday night: they had a FIP of -0.24 (!!).

A history making night for the Rays pitchers, and an example of just how dangerous this pitching staff can be when they are locked in.