5 Shutouts Friday, Runs Down 0.78 Per Game

Rick Porcello led the Tigers to the fifth shutout of the night in Major League Baseball, driving the average runs per game to 8.48 this season, well below the 9.21 that were being scored at this time in the 2002 season. The Boston Red Sox lead the majors with 355 runs scored, exactly as many as they had scored at this time 11 years ago, on then that was only good enough for fifth in the Majors behind the Yankees, Angels, Mariners and Twins as shown below.

The value of runs goes way up when scoring is down. When teams are playing 8-6 games a two-run double is nice but not decisive. However, when the Twins and Tigers were still tied 0-0 in the sixth inning Friday, Prince Fielder’s two-run double was decisive in a 4-0 win.

Twins starter Scott Diamond (4-6) received the loss. Tigers starters have now given the team 19 quality starts in 20 games according to ESPN. The following table is an analysis of the ESPN database by Breitbart Sports, comparing each team’s record, runs scored and runs allowed Friday and 11 years ago:

2013 Team	2013W	2013L	2013Runs	2013RA	2002 Team	2002W	2002L	2002Runs	2002RA
Boston	41	28	355	280	Boston	42	22	355	251
Colorado	35	33	337	302	Colorado	32	35	320	325
St. Louis	43	24	333	232	St. Louis	36	29	299	280
Baltimore	39	29	331	317	Baltimore	31	34	294	307
Detroit	37	28	328	243	Detroit	24	41	251	351
Tampa Bay	35	32	325	310	Tampa Bay	22	43	251	348
Cincinnati	41	27	318	253	Cincinnati	37	28	284	282
Oakland	41	27	316	269	Oakland	36	30	324	325
Cleveland	33	33	310	301	Cleveland	33	34	274	319
Toronto	30	36	297	322	Toronto	27	37	303	356
Arizona	37	29	294	273	Arizona	40	26	345	289
San Francisco	35	31	293	297	San Francisco	37	28	311	235
Texas	38	29	293	265	Texas	27	38	313	351
LA Angels	28	38	292	312	Anaheim	39	25	359	272
Atlanta	39	28	289	233	Atlanta	40	27	295	237
San Diego	32	34	279	301	San Diego	28	39	246	318
Milwaukee	27	39	274	314	Milwaukee	23	43	268	337
Chicago Cubs	27	38	263	277	Chicago Cubs	27	38	255	291
Minnesota	29	35	261	290	Minnesota	37	30	357	331
NY Yankees	37	29	260	250	NY Yankees	43	24	370	263
Kansas City	32	33	259	240	Kansas City	25	39	277	353
Houston	24	44	256	353	Houston	28	37	300	290
Pittsburgh	40	27	252	235	Pittsburgh	31	35	248	287
Philadelphia	33	35	251	292	Philadelphia	28	36	283	305
NY Mets	24	38	242	295	NY Mets	32	34	266	262
Seattle	29	38	237	284	Seattle	41	25	358	275
LA Dodgers	28	38	232	280	Los Angeles	39	27	293	257
Chicago Sox	28	36	230	264	Chicago Sox	33	34	352	333
Washington	33	33	230	258	Montreal	33	33	289	314
Miami	20	46	199	294	Florida	33	33	320	316
8.48 Runs/Gm	995	995	8436	8436	9.21 Runs/Gm	984	984	9060	9060