Three Straight Strikeouts to Open a Postseason Game

The Orioles got off to a great start in last night's ALDS opener against Detroit when Chris Tillman struck out Ian Kinsler, Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera in the top of the first inning.

It was the 21st time in postseason history that a pitcher struck out the first three batters he faced.

Date	Series	Gm	Pitcher	Team	Opp	Batters	Result
10/3/1933	WS	1	Carl Hubbell	at NYG	WAS	Buddy Myer, Goose Goslin, Heinie Manush	W 4-2
10/11/1943	WS	5	Mort Cooper	at STL	NYY	Frankie Crosetti, Bud Metheny, Billy Johnson (Charlie Keller & Bill Dickey in 2nd)	L 2-0
10/3/1957	WS	2	Bobby Shantz	at NYY	MLN	Red Schoendienst, Johnny Logan, Eddie Mathews	L 4-2
10/2/1963	WS	1	Sandy Koufax	LAD	at NYY	Tony Kubek, Bobby Richardson, Tom Tresh (Mickey Mantle & Roger Maris in 2nd)	W 5-2
10/7/1975	NLCS	3	John Candelaria	at PIT	CIN	Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench (Tony Perez in 2nd)	L 5-3
10/3/1979	ALCS	1	Nolan Ryan	CAL	at BAL	Al Bumbry, Mark Belanger, Ken Singleton (Eddie Murray in 2nd)	L 6-3 (10)
10/11/1981	NLDS	5	Steve Carlton	at PHI	MON	Warren Cromartie, Jerry White, Andre Dawson	L 3-0
10/15/1983	WS	4	Storm Davis	BAL	at PHI	Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt	W 5-4
10/16/1991	NLCS	6	Steve Avery	ATL	at PIT	Gary Redus, Jay Bell, Andy Van Slyke	W 1-0
10/6/1993	NLCS	1	Curt Schilling	at PHI	ATL	Otis Nixon, Jeff Blauser, Ron Gant (Fred McGriff & David Justice in 2nd)	W 4-3
10/24/1996	WS	5	John Smoltz	at ATL	NYY	Derek Jeter, Charlie Hayes, Bernie Williams	L 1-0
10/11/1997	ALCS	3	Mike Mussina	BAL	at CLE	Bip Roberts, Omar Vizquel, Manny Ramirez	L 2-1 (12)
10/8/1998	NLCS	2	Kevin Brown	SD	at ATL	Walt Weiss, Keith Lockhart, Chipper Jones	W 3-0
10/23/1999	WS	1	Orlando Hernandez	NYY	at ATL	Gerald Williams, Bret Boone, Chipper Jones	W 4-1
10/11/2000	ALCS	2	Orlando Hernandez	at NYY	SEA	Mike Cameron, Stan Javier, Alex Rodriguez	W 7-1
10/24/2000	WS	3	Orlando Hernandez	NYY	at NYM	Timo Perez, Edgardo Alfonzo, Mike Piazza	L 4-2
10/3/2007	NLDS	1	Jeff Francis	COL	at PHI	Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley (Ryan Howard in 2nd)	W 4-2
10/24/2007	WS	1	Josh Beckett	at BOS	COL	Willy Taveras, Kazuo Matsui, Matt Holliday (Todd Helton in 2nd)	W 13-1
10/3/2013	NLDS	1	Kris Medlen	at ATL	LAD	Carl Crawford, Mark Ellis, Hanley Ramirez	L 6-1
10/4/2013	ALDS	1	Jon Lester	at BOS	TB	Desmond Jennings, Ben Zobrist, Wil Myers (Evan Longoria in 2nd)	W 12-2
10/2/2014	ALDS	1	Chris Tillman	at BAL	DET	Ian Kinsler, Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera	W 12-3

El Duque is the only pitcher to do it more than once, and he did it three times. Candelaria, Ryan, Francis, Beckett and Lester also struck out the first batter of the second inning. Cooper, Koufax and Schilling are the three pitchers to whiff the first five of the game.

Tillman's trio looks like one of the better ones on the list. The best is certainly either Davis' Morgan-Rose-Schmidt or Candelaria's Rose-Morgan-Bench (with the Perez bonus).

With strikeout rates skyrocketing every year, expect a few more hurlers to add their name to the list this month.