Stats of the Day: Montgomery's pristine start

Here are four interesting items from around the big leagues on Tuesday:

• In his sixth Major League appearance, Seattle's Mike Montgomery hurled a one-hit shutout to beat the Padres, 5-0. Montgomery is the 24th pitcher since 1914 to have a shutout (of the nine-inning variety) on one hit or no hits within his first six games, and he is the first to do this since Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second game, on Sept. 1, 2007. After tossing a shutout in his previous outing, Montgomery is one of eight left-handers since 1914 to have multiple shutouts through their first six games. Art Nehf had the most, with three. Montgomery is also the first Mariners pitcher to have multiple shutouts through his first six games and the first rookie to hurl back-to-back shutouts since Cleveland's Jeremy Sowers in 2006.

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• Dallas Keuchel twirled scoreless ball for eight innings and came away with his 10th win as the Astros blanked the Royals, 4-0. Keuchel, who leads the AL with a 2.03 ERA and is tied for the American League lead with the 10 wins, is the 26th Astros pitcher to reach double digits in victories before the All-Star break. Among these first 25, the five lowest first-half ERAs belong to: J.R. Richard (10-4, 1.96 ERA in 1980), Darryl Kile (10-3, 2.17 ERA in '97; 10-1, 2.26 ERA in '93), Roy Oswalt (12-7, 2.39 ERA in 2005) and Larry Dierker (12-4, 2.41 ERA in 1971).

Video: KC@HOU: Keuchel fans seven in eight scoreless innings

• For the second straight game, Mitch Moreland homered twice. He is the ninth Senators/Rangers player to have back-to-back multihomer games, and the first since Mike Napoli in 2011. No player for the franchise has had three straight.

Video: TEX@BAL: Moreland hits two homers in win for Rangers

Behind Jordan Zimmermann's 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, the Nationals defeated the Braves, 6-1. Washington has won nine straight against Atlanta, matching the longest winning streak the franchise has enjoyed against the Braves' franchise. The Expos won nine in a row in 1972-73.

Milestone watch for Wednesday

• Dee Gordon needs four hits to tie Juan Pierre (2003) and Hanley Ramirez ('07) for the most for a Marlins player by the All-Star break.

• Albert Pujols needs four bases to tie Reggie Jackson for 26th on the all-time list.