Last season, Cleveland Indians pitcher Justin Masterson made his first All-Star team and went 14-10 with a 3.45 ERA and 195 strikeouts in 193 innings.
In 2014, with free agency looming, Masterson has found replicating last year’s success a difficult task. He entered the week with a 5.21 ERA over his first 12 starts and just one quality start in his last five outings.
On Monday, Masterson put together the kind of performance Indians fans had been hoping to see from their opening day starter on a consistent basis. The 29-year-old tossed seven shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox and registered 10 strikeouts.
Three of those strikeouts came in the fourth inning, when Masterson needed just nine pitches to dispose of Jonny Gomes, Grady Sizemore, and Stephen Drew.
Over a period the spanned from the last batter of the third inning through the second batter of the sixth inning, Masterson threw 25 consecutive strikes. Not a bad way to break a string of shaky starts.
