Putting Rico Garcia's historic start in context
Let's take a moment to appreciate the great season Rico Garcia is having.
He has now pitched 20 games (19.2 IP) with 1 hit allowed. In the history of baseball, no other pitcher has allowed fewer than 2 hits in their first 20 games of any season.
The 2 pitchers who allowed 2 hits in their first 20 games were:
2019 Brandon Workman (Bos, 18.0 IP)
2012 Donnie Veal (CWS, 11.2 IP)
Considering ANY 20 game span, including those crossing seasons, only the LOOGY Randy Choate (Mia 2011) has allowed 0 hits in 20 consecutive appearances (only 8.2 IP).
2 others also had 20-game spans with 1 hit allowed, but none crossed over from 1 season to another:
Tim Byrdak (also LOOGY) pitched 20 games (8.1 IP) with 1 hit allowed for the 2012 NYM.
Kyle Barraclough (RHP, Mia) has the only streak that is truly similar to Garcia's current stretch with 1 hit allowed in an identical 19.2 IP spanning 20 games in May and June of 2018.
I absolutely loved the fact they brought him in to face the heart of the Yankees order in the 8th tonight. Nunez got the official save, but Garcia got the big outs there.