SAN DIEGO (AP) – Rookie left-hander Mike Montgomery never threw a shutout in 168 starts during eight minor league seasons.
Now he’s got two straight after just six big league starts, putting him in some elite company.
Montgomery took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and finished with a one-hitter for his second consecutive shutout as the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres 5-0 Tuesday night.
It was the seventh time a Mariners pitcher threw consecutive shutouts – Randy Johnson did it three times, including three straight in 1994, and Mark Langston did it twice. Montgomery is the 12th major league rookie, and second Mariners pitcher, to do it since 1980. Langston pitched consecutive shutouts for Seattle on June 26 and July 1, 1984.
Others who tossed consecutive shutouts as rookies were Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela and Hideo Nomo.