As hard as it is to believe, Garrett Whitlock the starter actually looked more impresssive than Garrett Whitlock the reliever.
Making his first major league start, Whitlock completed dominated the Rays through his four innings.
The righty gave up just one hit while throwing 48 pitches (33 strikes). He struck out seven while not walking a batter, getting Rays batters to whiff on 11 of their 23 swings.
Whitlock's fastball topped out at 97.8 mph, with seven of the 15 swings on the pitch not making any contact. He threw 28 heaters, 12 changeups and eight sliders. He left with the score deadlocked at 0-0.
Through 2 IP, Whitlock has thrown 30 pitches 18 for strikes and has 5 strikeouts. 3 of them in the 2nd inning.#RedSox // #DirtyWater pic.twitter.com/OE5Ef3UjlM
— The Pesky Report (Red Sox 7-8) (@PeskyReport) April 23, 2022
This obviously didn't come out of the blue considering Whitlock already led the majors in scoreless outings of greater than one inning (26) and is tied for the lead in scoreless outings of two innings or more (18) since the beginning of the 2021 season .
For the season, Whitlock carried an 0.93 ERA over 9 2/3 innings of relief over four games.
