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The Grand Slam: Indians pitcher Danny Salazar sets a dubious record in loss

Mike Oz

Danny Salazar was so good at times Thursday night that he struck out 10 batters during his three and 2/3 innings on the field. But Salazar was so bad at times that he couldn't pitch any further into the Cleveland Indians' game against the Chicago White Sox.

Salazar threw 93 pitches, giving up six hits and five runs, all before the fourth inning. Eek. But those 10 strikeouts meant that all about but one of his outs came from a K. Yay. The duality of his start produced this dubious stat: Salazar is the only pitcher in the modern era to strike out 10 batters in less than four innings pitched.

Manager Terry Francona summed up Salazar's night for MLB.com's Joe Popely:

"Well, it's an interesting line score. He obviously had really good stuff to have that many strikeouts," Indians manager Terry Francona said of Salazar. "But because there were a lot of swing and miss, and he was also not hitting his spots all the time -- he was up a lot on a [few] pitches -- there were a lot of deep counts and they saw a lot of pitches. And then when he made a mistake, because they had seen so many pitches, they did some damage with him."

The Indians lost the game, 7-3. Rookie Jose Abreu continued his torrid start for the White Sox, with two more home runs and three RBIs. Alexei Ramirez also had two hits and three RBIs, including a homer.

THE BREWERS WIN SIXTH STRAIGHT: It's not too early in the season to put together a nice winning streak, as the Milwaukee Brewers have shown us. The Brew Crew beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 on Thursday for their sixth straight win, completing a sweep of the Phillies after its sweep of the Boston Red Sox. All six wins came on the road too.

The Brewers are now 7-2 overall this season — yes, that means their winning streak has made up two-thirds of their season so far. Not bad. In Thursday's win, Marco Estrada turned in a solid six-inning start, while Carlos Gomez, Ryan Braun and Khris Davis each had multiple hits. The Brewers now host the Pittsburgh Pirates for a weekend series in Milwaukee.

THE NATS KEEP WINNING TOO: After a dominating win Thursday against the Miami Marlins, the Washington Nationals are now 7-2, tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in baseball. The Nats also sit atop Yahoo Sports' current MLB power rankings.

In Thursday's win, Stephen Strasburg was impeccable, striking out 12 batters in 6 2/3 innings, allowing only three Marlins hits. Jayson Werth hit another homer and Ian Desmond hit an eight-inning grand slam that sealed Washington's 7-1 win.

After feeding on the Marlins and Mets, the Nats now play a weekend series with the Atlanta Braves, the only team that's beaten them thus far.

A'S COMPLETE SWEEP, WIN NINTH STRAIGHT AGAINST TWINS: The Minnesota Twins don't have to see the Oakland Athletics again until August. Maybe that'll give Joe Mauer and the boys time to figure the A's out. Oakland downed Minnesota 6-1 on Thursday, its ninth straight win against the Twins.

The A's got another strong start, this time from Dan Straily, who gave up three hits through seven innings. Josh Donaldson had a homer and three RBIs to pace the Oakland offense.

For the rest of Thursday's MLB scores, check out our scoreboard.

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Mike Oz

is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!