Roark strikes out career-high 15, befuddles Twins in 2-0 shutout

Tanner Roark has never been considered a strikeout pitcher.

On Saturday, he certainly looked like one.

Roark came up big for the Nationals Saturday, mixing all four of his pitches to perfection while striking out a career-high 15 batters over seven innings in a 2-0 shutout of the Minnesota Twins.

"He obviously threw a really good game," said third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who contributed the two-run single in the first inning. "But I think Tanner is pretty consistent. He pounds the zone. Today, he obviously had his out pitches working.

"He's fun to play behind, especially when he's throwing as many strikes as he was today. Obviously, he had a really good game plan and stuck to it."

It was only the second time he had recorded double-digit strikeouts in a start, passing his previous career high of 12 strikeouts in a start at San Diego on June 6, 2014.

"He had good control, and he had his sinker working and he had his comeback-inside fastball working, the same one you guys talked about getting hit this morning," said manager Dusty Baker. "He was really determined big time. Ramos directed him through the ballgame and to get those two runs early, that made him even more determined."

Consistency was the key.

All four of his pitches were working.

Roark recorded eight of his strikeouts with the two-seam fastball, which he was able to move in and out.

"It's a huge pitch," pitching coach Mike Maddux said. "I mean, it's a bona fide out pitch. You can tell the guy it's coming and it's hard to hang in there. The guys who have that pitch, and Tanner is one of them, you can get a lot of outs.

"You can get a lot of outs with that pitch. It comes down to execution. You execute it and you see the results, and all of a sudden you grow confident with it and you can't wait to throw it again.

His slider, curveball and changeup were also baffling hitters, something even Roark doesn't remember ever doing.

"I don't think I ever have. I was throwing four pitches to lefties and righties," Roark said. "Keeping them guessing, keeping them uncomfortable up at the plate, trying to get ahead with strike one. In the first inning, that wasn't really the case. So you really got to go after it and be aggressive, keep going at the hitters."

"Today was a special moment for Tanner," Maddux said. "Credit to him. He commanded his pitches. He commanded four pitches for strikes to everybody. I thought that was the big thing. He kept them all off-balance. He used his out pitches appropriately. He pitched aggressively and defensively in whatever the count dictated. He did very well."

Roark struck out two or more batters in each of the first six innings of his outing.

One concern was the pitch count. He managed to last for 121 pitches, 78 for strikes. Roark knew he was piling up heavy innings as the outing wore on.

"I peeked in like the fifth inning, and it was like 91 pitches and there was only one out," Roark noticed. "I was like all right lets just try to make quality pitches and try to make them put it in play. Just so happened to work out with what happened, so just kept going out there giving everything I got. Dusty trusted in me to go out there and keep battling and going after guys."

Maddux also realized that the pitch count was creeping up there for Roark, but he noticed that the right-hander was making it look pretty effortless, so they let him keep going.

"He hadn't labored all day," Maddux said. "He had a two-out base hit early and then followed by a two-out walk. Then I think his next baserunner was a two-out walk. So he was in the windup the whole time. He was never really stressed with that leadoff double where, 'Hey, my back is to the wall.'

"He was in the driver's seat and pitched out of the windup a whole lot today. You look at the stress of the pitches. He was in a good spot. He was able to keep going."