Anibal Sanchez strikes out 17 for the Detroit Tigers

Anibal Sanchez set a Detroit Tigers record with 17 strikeouts in their 10-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

The right-hander won his third game of the season with the best performance of his career, bettering the 16 strikeouts set by Mickey Lolich when he struck out the side in the eighth inning.

Manager Jim Leyland opted not to bring him out for the ninth, where he would have had a chance of equalling the major league record of 20 K's, because he had already thrown 121 pitches on the evening.
"It's hard to get much better than that," Leyland said of the 29-year-old who threw a no-hitter back in 2006 with the then Florida Marlins.

Detroit bunched their 10 runs in two innings, the third and fourth, with the only home run coming in the fourth from left fielder Matt Tuiasosopo, who batted in five runs on his two hits.
Shut-out

Another pitcher in form on Friday was Jordan Zimmerman, who excelled in Washington's complete game shut-out of the Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds managed just one hit for the second straight game, having struggled against Gio Gonzalez on Thursday, but this time it took just one run to secure victory for the home side.

Zimmerman struck out only four in his complete game shut-out, but he was in complete control throughout, walking just one batsman and needing only 91 pitches to get through the order three times.

Xavier Paul led off the third with a single to center for Cincinnati's only hit off Zimmermann, the other baserunners coming when Todd Frazier reached on an error by first baseman Adam LaRoche in the fifth and Corky Miller walked in the eighth.

Homer Bailey was nearly as good for the Reds, striking out six in seven innings, but the one run he gave up on a single from Jayson Werth proved the difference in terms of the result.

"Things go in streaks and sometimes there's no explaining why,'' Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We went through this last year. There was a streak when you couldn't buy a run and another streak when you get all the runs you need or want, or even more than you want. Right now we're in that can't buy a run phase."

Ryan Dempster struck out 10 for the Boston Red Sox in their 7-3 win over Houston, with David Ortiz, Will Middlebrooks and David Ross going deep, the latter twice.

The St Louis Cardinals were easy 9-1 winners over Pittsburgh with Carlos Beltran hitting a pair of home runs and there were deep balls from Hank Conger and Mark Trumbo in the LA Angels' 6-3 win in Seattle.