MLB Notebook: Ryu tosses rare rookie gem

Making his 11th career appearance Tuesday, Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu threw a two-hit shutout, leading his club to a 3-0 win over the Angels.

In Fernando Valenzuela's celebrated start to the 1981 season, the left-hander opened his (and the Dodgers') campaign with his first career shutout -- a five-hitter against the Astros. Valenzuela would hurl shutouts in four of his next six appearances that spring, allowing five hits in the opener and then seven hits the next three times.

That Opening Day shutout came in Valenzuela's 11th career game, and the last of the five shutouts came in career appearance No. 17. So, to find a closer match to what Ryu accomplished Tuesday -- in terms of career appearances, number of hits allowed in a shutout and handed-ness of a Dodgers pitcher -- one has the delight of going much deeper into the team's records, way back to when the club was still in Brooklyn, and a 19-year-old southpaw with the surname of Koufax was just starting his big league career. Ryu was the first Dodgers pitcher to have a shutout on two or fewer hits so early into his career since Hideo Nomo in 1995, and the first Dodgers southpaw to do it since Sandy Koufax in '55. In '95, Nomo threw a two-hit shutout (with 13 K's) against the Giants in his 11th game, and in '55, Koufax hurled a two-hit shutout (with 14 K's) against the Reds in his seventh career game.

Ryu was the fourth Dodgers pitcher to throw an Interleague shutout, and the third of the four to do it on two hits. In 1998, Ismael Valdez two-hit the Athletics, and in 2011, Clayton Kershaw held the Tigers to a pair of hits. In '08, Eric Stults threw a four-hit shutout against the White Sox.

Six for Segura
In Milwaukee's 14-inning loss to Minnesota, shortstop Jean Segura was 6-for-7, with six singles. He was the first player to have a six-hit game since Adrian Gonzalez was 6-for-6 as a member of the Padres on Aug. 11, 2009, vs. the Brewers.

Segura is the third Brewers player to have six hits in a game, following John Briggs (Aug. 4, 1973) and Kevin Reimer (Aug. 24, 1993); the 19th player since 1916 (and first since Skip Schumaker on July 26, 2008) to have six singles in a game; and the 10th player since '16 to start at shortstop and have a six-hit game. Before this performance, Omar Vizquel -- on Aug. 31, 2004 -- had been the most recent to do it.

Braves power
Brian McCann hit go-ahead homers in both the sixth and 10th innings, helping the Braves to a 7-6 win over the Blue Jays.

McCann has 162 career home runs and 379 extra-base hits. All-time, for players through their age-29 season with at least 75 percent of their games as a catcher, McCann ranks seventh in both home runs and extra-base hits. In the home run category, he trails Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez, Lance Parrish, Gary Carter and Yogi Berra; for extra-base hits, he is behind Bench, Rodriguez, Ted Simmons, Carter, Parrish and Berra.

Atlanta's Evan Gattis also went deep in the Braves' win, giving him 12 homers. That total ties him for the 11th most for any player since 1916 through his first 41 games. The only players to have more were Wally Berger (16), Wally Joyner (15), Kevin Maas (14), Sam Horn (14), Mike Jacobs (14), Albert Pujols (14), Zeke Bonura (13), Dave Hostetler (13), Adam Dunn (13) and Ryan Braun (13).

Harvey's Mets upend Mo's Yanks
Down, 1-0, heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Mets put together three straight hits to plate two runs and defeat Mariano Rivera and the Yankees, 2-1.

Rivera has eight blown saves in 80 opportunities in Interleague Play, with this being his third against the Mets. He also has two against the Marlins, two against the Expos/Nationals (one for each city) and one against the Braves.

This game -- during which Rivera allowed a leadoff double to Daniel Murphy, an RBI single to David Wright and a walk-off single to Lucas Duda -- marked the first time in 700 save opportunities that Rivera had failed to record an out.

Mets starter Matt Harvey fanned 10 with no walks in his eight innings of one-run ball. This start marked Harvey's 21st Major League appearance. Harvey has five career double-digit strikeout games, with two of them featuring no walks. His five through 21 games puts Harvey into a tie for the sixth most for any pitcher since 1916. Nomo leads with nine, and is followed by Dwight Gooden (eight), Mark Prior (seven), and Kerry Wood and Yu Darvish (six apiece). At five, Harvey is tied with Bob Feller, Ray Culp, Al Downing and Tom Griffin.

Harvey's two games with at least 10 K's and no walks are tied for the most for any player since 1916, through all players' first 21 games. The others with two: Gary Nolan, Nomo, Rick Ankiel, Prior and Stephen Strasburg. Harvey's 154 K's in his first 21 games are second most in Mets history behind Gooden's 165.

Pirates outlast Tigers
The Pirates defeated the Tigers, 1-0, in 11 innings, getting a combined five-hitter from four pitchers and a solo homer from Neil Walker.

Walker was the first Pirates player to homer to break a 0-0 tie in the 11th inning or later since Ed Ott gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the top of the 11th on April 26, 1978. In that game, Bert Blyleven went the distance on a six-hitter in a Pirates victory over the Mets.

The Pirates have three 1-0 wins this year. The only other season since 1916 to in which the club had at least three through its first 52 games was '78.

Pirates right-hander Jason Grilli improved to 21-for-21 in save opportunities this season by fanning Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in a perfect 11th inning. In addition to leading the Majors in saves, Grilli also owns the second-highest ratio of strikeouts per nine innings, the sixth-lowest ratio of hits per nine, the fifth-lowest WHIP, the 10th-best ratio of strikeouts to walks, and the third-lowest OPS against (all rate stat ranks among pitchers with at least 20 innings).