Introducing "The Maddux" - MLB

Reader Jason Lukehart has a blog, and on that blog he has a good post. In it he creates a new statistic. Or at least names one, and the choice of name means that I am 100% likely to use it going forward:

Somewhere along the line, and I don’t recall what year this would have been, probably late 90s, I came across a box score for a game in which Maddux had thrown a complete game shutout, and used fewer than 100 pitches to do it. I LOVED that! Ever since then, I’ve kept my eye out for such games, and somewhere along the line I began calling such a pitching line a “Maddux.” … here are the parameters of the Maddux: a starting pitcher must pitch the entire game, said game must go at least nine innings (no rain shortened affairs), the pitcher must give up no runs, and he can throw no more than 99 total pitches.

I love it. And Jason goes on to offer up some factoids about The Maddux. My favorite: the guy who is second in Madduxes over the past 25 years.

HOUSTON – Yordan Alvarez hit a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh inning, and the Houston Astros rallied past the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Friday night for their first win of the season.

Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer in the sixth and made a spectacular catch at the wall in the seventh to rob Andrew Benintendi of extra bases and keep the World Series champion Astros within one run.

Eloy Jimenez hit two RBI doubles for the White Sox, both off Astros starter Cristian Javier.

Jimenez’s first double scored Tim Anderson in the first inning. In the sixth, Javier gave up three straight doubles to Benintendi, Jimenez and Joan Moncada to make it 3-0 and end his night.

White Sox reliever Kendall Graveman (0-1) loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh on two walks and a single. Jake Diekman came on and gave up Alvarez’s double to deep left-center, a drive that just eluded Luis Robert Jr. and bounced off the wall, clearing the bases.

Four Astros relievers each worked one scoreless inning. Seth Martinez (1-0) got the win and Rafael Montero handled the ninth for his first save.

Chicago starter Lance Lynn allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings.

ALL IN A DAY’S REST

White Sox INF Andrew Vaughn, who hit a go-ahead two-run double in Thursday’s season-opening win, did not play. Vaughn experienced lower back issues during spring training. Gavin Sheets started at first base.

HOMETOWN HIT

Astros outfielder Corey Yulks, a Houston-area native, singled in his first at-bat and finished 1-for-4 in his major league debut.

PUT A RING ON IT

Astros owner Jim Crane and his wife, Whitney, presented the team and staff with their 2022 World Series rings in a pregame ceremony.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: LHP Blake Taylor, who is on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow strain, began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sugar Land.

UP NEXT

The four-game season-opening series continues Saturday when Houston’s Jose Urquidy faces Chicago’s Lucas Giolito.

Introducing “The Maddux”

Alvarez’s bases-clearing double sends Astros past White Sox