Triston McKenzie Has Historic Final Start Of The Season For The Guardians
Arguably the biggest breakout performance of the 2022 season goes to Triston McKenzie. Sure there have been players such as Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Andres Gimenez, and many more. But McKenzie took himself from solid rotational piece to legitimate ace in just one season.
In his final start of the year, McKenzie pitched five innings while recording 0 walks, one earned run, and four strikeouts against the Royals. He's now allowed three or fewer runs in 11 consecutive starts which is the longest streak of McKenzie's career and is tied with Shane Bieber for this longest streak of this kind in 2022.
Terry Francona noted after the game that if it was any other start this season then he would've kept going. But they have playoffs to think about.
McKenzie's final regular season stats are just incredible. He finished with a sub-three ERA, 191.1 innings pitched, 190 strikeouts, and a 0.95 WHIP making him arguably the Guardians ace this season. He's definitely been the most consistent starter.
These season stats aren't just fantastic, they're historic too. McKenzie finished the season with a 2.96 ERA which makes him the first Cleveland pitcher to have a sub-three ERA his age 24-or-younger season since Dennis Eckersley did it back in 1975. He had a 2.60 ERA and was 20 years old at the time.
McKenzie will get the start in Game Two of the Wild Card series which will take place at Progressive Field on Saturday. It's been a historic regular season for him, but now it's time to go make some history in the playoffs!
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