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Stat Of The Night: Marco Estrada And The Nine Strikeouts

By Kyle Lobner
Apr 21, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Marco Estrada (41) pitches against the Colorado Rockies in the 1st inning at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE
Apr 21, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Marco Estrada (41) pitches against the Colorado Rockies in the 1st inning at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

Marco Estrada only faced 17 batters tonight (and retired 15), so his nine strikeouts represented better than half of his entire outing. Not surprisingly, nine strikeouts is a career high for Estrada. He's also the first Brewer pitcher to reach that mark this season.

Actually, Estrada is only the 54th pitcher in Brewer franchise history to strike out nine batters in a game. Only five pitchers have done it ten times or more:

Pitcher Games Season(s)
Teddy Higuera 29 1985-94
Ben Sheets 23 2001-08
Yovani Gallardo 22 2007-present
Zack Greinke 12 2011-present
Doug Davis 10 2003-06, 2010

Before tonight, the last 20 nine strikeout games for Brewer pitchers had all come from either Gallardo or Greinke. Besides those two, the last Brewer pitcher to strike out nine or more batters in a game was Randy Wolf on April 14 of last season.

Estrada didn't get the win tonight, but his performance almost certainly earned him another start when this spot in the rotation comes up next weekend.

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