Noah Syndergaard is the first pitcher in team history to have at least five or more strikeouts in each of his first four career games.
The Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka was the last pitcher to accomplish the feat when he had five or more strikeouts in his first 11 starts last year. Only 20 pitchers in the history of the game have had five or more strikeouts in their first five major league games.
A scoring decision from MLB reduced his ERA to 1.82 yesterday. That is tied for the lowest ERA in team history after four starts with Jim McAndrew (1968). Tom Seaver had a 1.88 ERA after his first four starts in 1967. Syndergaard is one of five pitchers in team history to allow one earned run or less in three of his first four major league starts, joining McAndrew, Seaver, Mike Bruhert (1978) and Brian Bannister (2006).
Syndergaard went 3-3 with a home run and tossed 7.1 shutout innings in his last start on May 27 vs. the Phillies. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other rookies to hurl at least 7.0 shutout innings while collecting three or more hits including a home run are Colorado’s Jason Jennings on August 23, 2001 vs. the Mets at Shea and the Dodgers’ Larry Sherry against the Cardinals on August 15, 1959.
