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USATSI

History was made Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park. The Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds played the first doubleheader featuring two seven-inning games in baseball history. MLB and the MLBPA agreed to seven-inning doubleheaders earlier this week to ensure player safety. Saturday's rainout set up Sunday's doubleheader.

That's not the only history that was made, however. In Game 1 of the doubleheader (GameTracker), Tigers lefty Tyler Alexander came out of the bullpen and struck out all nine batters he faced, tying the American League record for consecutive strikeouts. He was one short of Hall of Famer Tom Seaver's major-league record.

Alexander did have an opportunity to strike out a tenth straight batter, but he hit Mike Moustakas with a pitch to end the streak. He finished with 10 strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings, making him the first pitcher with double-digit strikeouts in relief since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson fanned 16 batters in a seven-inning relief appearance in 2001. That game was suspended due to  a power outage after two innings the previous day, and Johnson "started" the resumption.

Only five pitchers in baseball history have struck out nine consecutive batters. Here's the list:

  1. Tom Seaver, Mets vs. Padres: April 22, 1970 (10 straight)
  2. Ricky Nolasco, Marlins vs. Braves: Sept. 30, 2009 (9 straight)
  3. Aaron Harang, Dodgers vs. Padres: April 13, 2012 (9 straight)
  4. Doug Fister, Tigers vs. Royals: Sept. 27, 2012 (9 straight)
  5. Tyler Alexander, Tigers vs. Reds: Aug. 2, 2020 (9 straight)

Alexander, 26, is not known as a strikeout pitcher. He had three strikeouts in four innings this season prior to Sunday, and last year he struck out 47 in 53 2/3 innings. In 190 1/3 career Triple-A innings, Alexander has struck out 168 batters, or 20.2 percent of batters faced. That is more or less the league average.

The Reds, it should be noted, do not strike out excessively. They went in Sunday's game with a team 20.5 percent strikeout rate on the young season, the sixth-lowest strikeout rate in baseball. Sunday's game was the first time in Reds history that they struck out nine consecutive times in a single game (against one or multiple pitchers).