DETROIT - Anibal Sanchez approached the dugout with the crowd at Comerica Park roaring its approval, then he took off his hat to acknowledge the fans.
Aware of his pitch count, he realized his night was probably done - but what an evening it was.
Sanchez struck out 17 in eight innings for Detroit, confounding the Atlanta Braves on Friday night and leading the Tigers to a 10-0 victory. Sanchez broke Mickey Lolich’s team record of 16 strikeouts when he struck out three in the eighth inning.
“It’s hard to get much better than that,” Tigers Manager Jim Leyland said.
Sanchez threw 121 pitches in those eight innings, so there would be no return for the ninth to try to match Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood with 20 strikeouts. In fact, Leyland said he was ready to take Sanchez out after the seventh before letting him pitch a bit longer.
Sanchez was asked after the game about his new place in franchise history. The Tigers have been around for over a century, and nobody has had a game quite like this.
“Amazing,” Sanchez said. “I’m just going to keep working. That’s not going to stop today.”
Clemens and Wood are the only pitchers to strike out 20 in a nine-inning game. Since at least 1921, only Randy Johnson has struck out more than 17 while pitching eight innings or less. Johnson, who was then with Seattle, struck out 18 against Texas in a 1992 game, according to STATS.
Lolich struck out 16 twice in less than three weeks in 1969.
Sanchez (3-1) allowed five hits and one walk Friday.
“I don’t think too much about strikeouts and records and things like that,” Sanchez said. “I prefer getting some zeros.”
Paul Maholm (3-2) allowed eight runs in 3 2/3 innings after giving up only three in his first four starts. Detroit’s Matt Tuiasosopo homered and drove in a career-high five runs.
Sanchez kept the Braves off balance all night, striking out at least two hitters in every inning except the fourth. He got Dan Uggla four times and Freddie Freeman and Juan Francisco three times each.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 6, RAYS 4 David Phelps (1-1) struck out a career-high nine in four innings after relieving the injured Ivan Nova, Chris Stewart threw out two base runners to quash potential rallies as an emergency fill-in for Francisco Cervelli and host New York beat Toronto.
RANGERS 4, TWINS 3 Adrian Beltre homered and rookie Justin Grimm (2-0) won his second consecutive start as Texas beat host Minnesota.
WHITE SOX 5, RAYS 4 Jake Peavy (3-1) pitched well into the seventh and host Chicago supported him with three home runs to rally from a three-run deficit and beat Tampa Bay.
RED SOX 7, ASTROS 3 David Ross cleared the Green Monster twice with home runs and Ryan Dempster struck out 10 for Boston in a victory over Houston.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NATIONALS 1, REDS 0 Jordan Zimmermann (4-1) threw his third complete game as host Washington limited Cincinnati to one hit for the second consecutive game.
CARDINALS 9, PIRATES 1 Carlos Beltran homered from both sides of the plate and drove in three runs to lead Lance Lynn and host St. Louis past Pittsburgh.
PHILLIES 4, METS 0 Kyle Kendrick (2-1) pitched the best game of his career, throwing a three-hitter for Philadelphia and getting home run help from Ryan Howard in a victory over host New York.
CUBS 4, MARLINS 2 Anthony Rizzo had two home runs and four RBI to power visiting Chicago to back-to-back victories for the first time this season.
Friday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 1, Cincinnati 0 Chicago Cubs 4, Miami 2 Philadelphia 4, NY Mets 0 St. Louis 9, Pittsburgh 1 Colorado at Arizona, (n) Milwaukee at LA Dodgers, (n) San Francisco at San Diego, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 6, Toronto 4 Boston 7, Houston 3 Chicago White Sox 5, Tampa Bay 4 Texas 4, Minnesota 3 Cleveland at Kansas City, ppd., rain Baltimore at Oakland, (n) LA Angels at Seattle, (n)
INTERLEAGUE
Detroit 10, Atlanta 0
Sports, Pages 22 on 04/27/2013