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Ross Stripling has been no walk in the park for opponents

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Philadelphia Phillies v Los Angeles Dodgers Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Ross Stripling has undoubtedly been one of the best stories of the 2018 baseball season. The consistency provided to an otherwise damaged rotation has been invaluable to a team that dug itself a big hole to climb out of early on.

Even when he was coming out of the bullpen in April, Stripling was ahead of the game. The right-hander made 11 appearances as a reliever over the first 31 games of the season and gave up only one run in 15 13 innings. Stripling stood out in a group that had an ERA near 5.00 to that point in the season.

But the 28-year-old really shined when he was permanently placed in the rotation in May.

In nine starts since May 6, Stripling has allowed just 12 runs (11 earned) in 53 innings and has had complete command of the strike zone. Stripling has walked only four while striking out 66 over that time for a whopping 16.5 strikeouts-to-walk ratio. 32.4% of batters to face Stripling on this run have ended their at-bat with a strikeout.

But here is the most impressive thing about Stripling at the moment. He has faced 112 since he last walked a batter on May 30 against the Phillies. Stripling currently has a streak of four straight starts without issuing a walk, which is something only 14 Dodgers pitchers have ever done.

If he gets through Tuesday’s start without allowing a walk, Stripling will join only four other pitchers in Dodgers history to have done it in five straight.

Consecutive Starts No Walks

Player Year GS SO BB
Player Year GS SO BB
Orel Hershiser 1991 6 18 0
Don Drysdale 1966 6 21 0
Don Drysdale 1962 5 27 0
Dutch Leonard 1934 5 8 0
Tom Zachary 1934 5 10 0

It should be noted that Tom Zachary walked four batters in a relief appearance between starts in his streak.

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Just for good measure, no Dodger pitcher has completed an entire calendar month without allowing a walk while starting five games or more.

Here is a list of pitchers that have accomplished just that in baseball since 1908:

No Walks in a Month

Player Month Year GS SO BB ERA IP H R ER BF WHIP SO9
Player Month Year GS SO BB ERA IP H R ER BF WHIP SO9
Mike Leake July 2016 5 31 0 5.70 30.0 40 20 19 126 1.333 9.3
Hiroki Kuroda Sept/Oct 2014 5 34 0 2.81 32.0 29 11 10 125 0.906 9.6
Phil Hughes May 2014 5 24 0 1.62 33.1 34 6 6 132 1.020 6.5
Kevin Slowey Sept/Oct 2011 5 17 0 7.57 27.1 37 23 23 119 1.354 5.6
Greg Maddux August 2007 6 21 0 2.37 38.0 37 10 10 150 0.974 5.0
Paul Byrd May 2007 6 21 0 3.60 40.0 49 17 16 167 1.225 4.7
Jon Lieber Sept/Oct 2006 6 22 0 4.33 35.1 42 18 17 149 1.189 5.6
Javier Vazquez May 2005 6 39 0 2.15 46.0 41 11 11 181 0.891 7.6
Greg Maddux July 2001 5 26 0 2.82 38.1 37 12 12 147 0.965 6.1
Eric Hillman July 1993 5 15 0 2.86 34.2 34 12 11 134 0.981 3.9
Luis Tiant August 1977 5 23 0 4.97 29.0 38 16 16 117 1.310 7.1
Ken Raffensberger July 1950 6 14 0 3.79 40.1 43 21 17 166 1.066 3.1
Red Lucas Sept/Oct 1933 6 9 0 3.77 43.0 58 22 18 183 1.349 1.9
Babe Adams July 1922 5 9 0 4.72 34.1 45 21 18 144 1.311 2.4

It’s amazing enough when a starter gets through one start without walking a batter, let alone five like Stripling goes for Tuesday.