Rangers Ace Martin Pérez Magnificent May By the Numbers

Just how good was Pérez in May? Near historic, almost “video-game” like.

Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward tried to find a way to describe Martín Pérez’s magnificent May on Monday night.

Woodward struggled a bit, but he seemed to find the right comparison.

“It’s like a video game,” Woodward said after Pérez threw seven innings and claimed his fourth win of May and the season on Tuesday night, as the Rangers won, 3-0. “It’s like you’re playing MLB The Show or something like that and you just click the button and it lands in the perfect place. Basically that’s the way he’s pitching right now.”

Pérez should be good to go for his next start, in spite of taking a line drive off his shin in the second inning. After that, he retired the next 16 hitters.

Pérez is without question the Rangers’ best starter right now. The writers who cover the Rangers just named him the Rangers Pitcher of the Month for May, and it’s possible Pérez could be the American League Pitcher of the Month.

He’s also a potential trade target for other teams. But, right now, he’s coming off one of the months in Rangers history.

Here, is Pérez by the numbers:

His 1.42 earned run average is the lowest in franchise history through a pitcher's first 10 starts in a season. The previous low was 1.60 by another left-hander, Kenny Rogers, in 1995.

Since April 23, Pérez has eight straight quality starts and has gone 4-0 with a 0.65 ERA.

Per Stats Inc., Pérez is just the third MLB pitcher since 1913 — when earned runs were officially tracked to post an 8-start span in which he went undefeated, did not allow a home run, had six or more innings pitched in each game and allowed one or fewer earned runs in each game. The other two pitchers are Hall of Fames Bob Gibson (1968) and Walter Johnson (1913-14).

In May, Pérez threw six games, went 4-0 with 0.64 ERA in 41 1/3rd innings with six runs allowed (three earned), 33 strikeouts, nine walks and an opponent batting average of .195.

The next-lowest ERA among AL qualifiers was Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan (1.15).

In the last 33 seasons Pérez is the fourth AL pitcher to post an ERA in a month with 40 innings pitched at 0.64 or lower — Minnesota’s Johan Santana (0.46, September of 2004) and Oakland’s Cory Lidle (0.20, August of 2002) and Boston’s Pedro Martinez (0.64, July of 2022).

Only Yovani Gallardo (June of 2015, 0.54) had a lower ERA than Pérez in a month with at least five starts.

Opposing batters slashed .195/.241/.235/.475 (29-149) with just six extra base hits (all doubles) against Pérez in May, the lowest opposing OPS allowed by a qualified MLB pitcher in the month. The last Rangers pitcher who threw a minimum of 40 innings in a month and had an opposing OPS that low was Roger Pavlik (.474, Sept of 1995).

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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