Dream debut for McKenzie: 10 K's and a W

CLEVELAND — One week ago, Triston McKenzie received a text from a buddy that read, “I had a dream last night you [were] making your debut. And you K’d up 10.” McKenzie responded, “I’m [trying to] turn that into a reality.” Seven days later, he did. McKenzie tossed six strong

CLEVELAND — One week ago, Triston McKenzie received a text from a buddy that read, “I had a dream last night you [were] making your debut. And you K’d up 10.” McKenzie responded, “I’m [trying to] turn that into a reality.”

Seven days later, he did.

McKenzie tossed six strong innings, allowing just one run on two hits with 10 strikeouts in the Indians’ 6-1 victory over the Tigers on Saturday night at Progressive Field. His 10 strikeouts are the second most by an Indians player in their Major League debut, trailing only Luis Tiant’s 11 in 1964.

• Box score

The 23-year-old became the first pitcher with a double-digit strikeout performance in his MLB debut since Freddy Peralta (13) in 2018 and is the 28th pitcher since at least 1901 with at least 10 strikeouts in his first career game.

He’s just a kid.#OurTribe pic.twitter.com/O3U5WhXOKP

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 23, 2020

It’s been two years since McKenzie last pitched in a game setting after missing all of 2019 with upper back and pectoral strains. Because of that, Indians pitching coach Carl Willis and a handful of others on the big league coaching staff had never seen him pitch outside of bullpen sessions. But the one thing that was known before McKenzie took the mound was that his fastball and curveball were his two biggest weapons.

• Friendship goals! Jones ‘couldn’t miss’ debut

It took all of six innings for McKenzie to prove just how accurate that evaluation was. According to Statcast, he threw 46 fastballs that averaged 94.5 mph and maxed out at 96.5 mph. Of the 26 swings on the heater, 11 were whiffs (42 percent whiff rate), while nine of his 10 strikeouts were on the four-seamer. His second most-used pitch was his curveball (18), which prompted two whiffs on four swings.

The Indians were planning to keep McKenzie in the 80-85 pitch range. So when he finished the sixth inning with 80 pitches, it was pretty clear that his night was over, as the Tribe trailed, 1-0. However, the offense rallied in the bottom half of the frame with a Domingo Santana three-run double, handing McKenzie his first career win.