ARLINGTON -- Cade Cavalli is on a roll.
Six days after his most dominant performance of the season, the Nationals’ ace picked up where he left off, striking out 11 in six scoreless innings as the Nats cruised past the Rangers 6-0 at Globe Life Field on Wednesday. The right-hander pushed his scoreless-innings streak to 17.
Cavalli’s first seven outs Wednesday were all via strikeouts; he had amassed eight K’s by the end of the third inning and 10 by the end of the fourth.
Since the club moved to Washington in 2005, only two other National pitchers had struck out 10 or more in four innings or fewer; Max Scherzer did it three times and Tanner Roark did it once. Cavalli needed just 60 pitches to get through the first four frames.
Cavalli was at 72 pitches after five innings, and 84 after six, but Washington broke the game open in the top of the seventh on Andrés Chaparro’s three-run homer, and thus Cavalli’s services were no longer necessary after that.
His previous time out, Cavalli held the Cubs to only one hit and no runs in eight innings at Nationals Park. With his gem Wednesday, Cavalli only added to an impressive recent body of work. He posted a 2.12 ERA (14 earned runs in 59 1/3 innings pitched) over his past 10 starts including Wednesday.
Cavalli is one of only eight MLB pitchers this season with 10 or more strikeouts through four innings.