James Shields was magnificent for the Royals on Friday night in New York, leading Kansas City to a 1-0 win over the Yankees. The victory preserved the Royals' lead over the Tigers in the American League Central for at least another day, and allowed Shields to reach the 200-inning milestone yet again.
Shields pitched scoreless baseball into the ninth inning, allowing only three hits and no walks (though he did hit a batter) in 8⅓ innings, with six strikeouts. After Wade Davis struck out Brett Gardner and Carlos Beltran to end it, Shields picked up his 13th win of the year.
With 8⅓ innings, Shields now has 200⅓ innings on the season, third in the American League. It is the eighth straight year Shields has reached 200 innings, as of now the only active pitcher in baseball to do so.
There is still time for a pair of pitchers to join Shields in the 200-inning streak club. Mark Buehrle has an active streak of 13 seasons with at least 200 frames, but is sitting on 175 innings with just over three weeks left in 2014. Justin Verlander has a streak of seven straight years, and is at 178 innings this season.
Shields has given Kansas City exactly what it needed in his two seasons there: an inning-eating horse at the top of the rotation. Since the beginning of 2007, nobody has pitched more innings than Shields.
| Most innings pitched in MLB, 2007-2014 | |
|---|---|
| Pitcher | Innings |
| James Shields | 1,759 |
| Felix Hernandez | 1,755⅓ |
| Justin Verlander | 1,752⅔ |
| CC Sabathia | 1,656 |
| Source: Baseball-Reference | |