Pirates' Kingham retires 1st 20 batters in historic debut
Nick Kingham made an instant impression Sunday, as the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander became the first pitcher in the expansion era (since 1961) to retire the first 20 batters faced in a major-league debut, according to Elias Sports, per ESPN Stats & Info.
The 26-year-old was promoted ahead of Sunday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals and struck out nine in 6 2/3 perfect innings before allowing a single to Paul DeJong.
Another Vegas kid making his stamp on the game! Congrats to @NickKingham on an absolutey stellar debut! Happy for you big manππ»
β Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) April 29, 2018
Kingham retired Marcell Ozuna in the subsequent plate appearance and was replaced by Michael Feliz to begin the eighth. In total, the final line for his major-league debut contained a lot of zeros:
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
Once considered to be one of the top pitching prospects in the Pirates' farm system, Kingham struggled with injuries, requiring Tommy John surgery in 2015. Starting 2018 with Triple-A Indianapolis, Kingham posted a 1.59 ERA over 22 2/3 innings before earning his long-awaited promotion.
To date, no pitcher has thrown a perfect game in his first career start, though Bumpus Jones famously tossed a no-hitter in his MLB debut back in 1892.