Twins' Andrew Albers hurls two-hit shutout in second career start

Andrew Albers has thrown 17 1/3 scoreless innings to start his MLB career. (Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) Stephen Strasburg beat him by a day, but on Monday

Joe Lemire | Aug 13, 2013

Twins' Andrew Albers hurls two-hit shutout in second career start /

Andrew Albers has thrown 17 1/3 scoreless innings to start his MLB career. (Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Stephen Strasburg beat him by a day, but on Monday night, Twins rookie Andrew Albers tied the Nationals' prodigy in career shutouts with one.

Albers, a 27-year-old native of Saskatchewan who threw 8 1/3 scoreless innings in his major-league debut on Aug. 6, followed that up with a two-hit shutout, blanking the Indians 2-0 to start his career with 17 1/3 innings without allowing a run.

Such a torrid start to his big-league tenure was already noteworthy, but that his shutout came with only two strikeouts only adds to Albers’ place in baseball history -- or at least on a Trivial Pursuit card. Not bad for a player who was pitching for an independent league team in Quebec just three years ago. Though a 10th round pick out of the University of Kentucky in 2008, Albers’ career was sidetracked by Tommy John surgery before signing with the Twins prior to the 2011 season.

Consider these superlatives of his start, all thanks to Baseball-Reference.com’s incomparable Play Index:

Albers joins Red Sox pitchers Clay Buchholz and Devern Hansack, as well as current Royals starter Ervin Santana, as the only pitchers in the last decade to throw a shutout within the first two starts of their careers. (Full list)
Albers is the first pitcher since Baltimore’s Tom Phoebus in 1966 to win his first two career starts while tossing at least eight shutout innings. (Full list)
Albers is the first pitcher this season to throw a shutout with two or fewer strikeouts; Boston’s Aaron Cook and Cleveland’s Derek Lowe were the only two to accomplish the feat last year. Cook also had only two strikeouts.
Albers is the first Twins pitcher to throw a shutout this season; only Scott Diamond did so in 2012. Interestingly, Albers replaced Diamond in the rotation, and Diamond threw a shutout in Triple-A the previous night.
Albers threw only one career minor-league shutout, a Triple-A outing on June 7 this year against the Gwinnett Braves, in which he allowed six hits.

Published Aug 13, 2013

JOE LEMIRE

Staff Writer, Sports Illustrated Staff writer Joe Lemire is in his seventh year at Sports Illustrated and his fourth season covering baseball full time. Lemire writes features and analysis for SI and SI.com and is responsible for the website's weekly MLB Power Rankings. He has profiled Pirates star Andrew McCutchen and Braves rookie sensation Evan Gattis for the magazine. Lemire's penchant for covering America's pastime is to be expected considering his inspirations, Tom Verducci and Peter Gammons, are among the most well-known writers in the sport. Before his current role, Lemire spent his first three years with SI oscillating between baseball, college basketball, high school football and sports business. This came on the heels of a summer internship with the magazine in 2004 and a tenure as a stringer with SI: On Campus. Born in Richmond, Va., and raised in Lowell, Mass., Lemire graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005 with a B.A. in government and a minor in economics. Before joining SI he covered high school and college sports for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va. He earned two Virginia Press Association awards for his work, one while a student writing at University of Virginia's Cavalier Daily and one at the Daily News-Record.