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There have been a bunch of times that it seemed like we were going to see the first no-hitter in the major leagues this season.

But Anibal Sanchez’s bid came up just short against the Minnesota Twins. It gets added to the list of really good pitching performances this season.

Let’s run through some of the statistical highlights.

Nothing new for Sanchez
Sanchez has thrown five complete games in which he has allowed one hit or fewer, the most of any active pitcher (with the complete games being a minimum of nine innings). In the past 40 seasons, only Nolan Ryan (14), Dave Stieb (6) and Randy Johnson (6) have more.

This was also the second time Sanchez had a no-hitter broken up in the ninth inning in the past three seasons. On April 22, 2011, he had one against the Colorado Rockies, broken up by Dexter Fowler leading off the ninth inning.

The Elias Sports Bureau noted Sanchez is the first pitcher to have two no-hit bids broken up that late within a three-year span since Pedro Martinez did in 1994 and 1995.

Elias also noted Sanchez became the third pitcher in Tigers history to throw a shutout in which he allowed one hit or fewer and struck out at least 12. Justin Verlander and Jim Bunning each did that in no-hitters, and Verlander also did it in a one-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates last season.

This was Sanchez's third 10-strikeout game in 22 starts with the Tigers.

He had three in 132 starts with the Marlins.

Nothing new for the Tigers
This was the third time the Tigers had a no-hit bid broken up in the ninth inning in the past four seasons. The others were by Armando Galarraga against the Cleveland Indians (which would have been a perfect game if not for a blown call at first base)and Verlander in that start against the Pirates.

And nothing new for Mauer, either
This was the third time Joe Mauer broke up a no-hit bid in the ninth inning. He also did so against Gavin Floyd and the White Sox in 2008, and a combined effort by the Texas Rangers in 2010.

Elias noted that in the expansion era (since 1961), Mauer and former Yankee Horace Clarke are the only players to break up three no-hit bids in the ninth inning.

What made Sanchez so good?
This game was a little different from Sanchez’s 17-strikeout game against the Atlanta Braves on April 26. That day, he recorded 28 swings-and-misses, twice as many as he had against the Twins on Friday night.

What stood out for Sanchez was that his called-strike rate was a season-high 42 percent (32 strikes on 77 takes).

Sanchez got to two strikes on 20 hitters and retired all 20, striking out 12. He struck out six with his fastball, three with his slider, two with his changeup and one with his curveball. The six strikeouts with his fastball were his most in more than a year (he had seven against the Arizona Diamondbacks last April 28).

The Tigers' defense, which has had trouble converting batted balls into outs all season, came through for Sanchez in this one. Sanchez entered the game with a .361 opponents batting average on balls in play, the fifth-highest in the majors among ERA-title qualifiers.

Great games, no no-nos
Sanchez posted a 94 on the Bill James Game Score metric, the fourth-best start this season. The only ones it trailed were Shelby Miller’s one-hit shutout against the Rockies (98), Matt Harvey’s one-hit no-decision against the Chicago White Sox (97) and Yu Darvish’s near-perfecto versus the Houston Astros (96).

It tied for the third-best by a Tigers pitcher since 2000, trailing only a Verlander no-hitter and one-hitter.

Had he gotten it
Had he completed the no-hit bid, Sanchez would have become the fourth active pitcher to throw a pair of no-hitters, joining Verlander, Roy Halladay and Mark Buehrle.

He also would have become the seventh pitcher to throw no-hitters for multiple teams in major league history, joining a list that includes Cy Young, Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan.

They count the same on the scoreboard, but not all home runs are created equal.

Justin Upton leads the National League with 14 home runs -- and not one of those came cheaply. All 14 of Upton's home runs has traveled more than 400 feet, including two of the seven longest hit in the NL this season. He’s hit nearly half of the Atlanta Braves' 400+ foot homers at Turner Field this year, despite having just 11% of his team’s at-bats.

Upton's home runs have been measured at an average of 427.4 feet, the longest of any player with multiple home runs. That exceeds the MLB average home run distance (397.3) by over 30 feet.

Check out the graphic below for a closer look at just how far Upton is hitting the ball in 2013.

Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown season was clearly not a fluke.

Cabrera has been even more dominant thus far this season.

After going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI in the Detroit Tigers’ 7-6 win over the Minnesota Twins, Cabrera now has 14 homers and 55 RBI in 45 games this season.

Cabrera is on pace for 198 RBI, which would break Hack Wilson’s single-season RBI record of 191 in 1930.

Cabrera is the first player with at least 55 RBI in his team's first 45 games of a season since Manny Ramirez in 2001.

Cabrera joins Ramirez (2001), Jimmie Foxx (1932) and Chuck Klein (1930) as the only players in MLB history with at least 14 home runs and 55 RBI with a .390 or better batting average through their team’s first 45 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Entering Thursday, Cabrera had seen only five inside fastballs that were 86 MPH or slower this season.

Scott Diamond threw Cabrera four of those pitches in his first at-bat Thursday (four consecutive pitches), the last of which he hit for a home run (86 MPH fastball).

Cabrera’s homer came on a two-strike fastball. He’s hitting an MLB-best .432 this season on two-strike fastballs. His on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS also lead the league against those pitches.

With a runner on second base and one out and the game tied 6-6 in the eighth inning, the Twins intentionally walked Cabrera with a base open to get to Fielder.

That perhaps was a mistake.

Fielder hit an RBI single to give the Tigers the lead and ultimately the win.

Over the last two seasons -- since joining the Tigers -- Fielder is 8-for-16 (.500 BA) with 11 RBI following a Cabrera intentional walk.

This season alone, he's 3-for-4 with five RBI in those situations.

If you can’t walk him and he hits nearly everything, what is the best solution when facing Cabrera?

There’s probably no answer for that question.

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund meet on Saturday at Wembley Stadium in an all-German UEFA Champions League Final. The two Bundesliga sides are familiar with one another, suggesting that a penalty shootout may be required to decide the final. The last two UEFA Champions League Finals which pitted domestic rivals against one another were decided by a shootout, in 2008 (Manchester United-Chelsea) and 2003 (AC Milan-Juventus).

The final has gone to penalties on ten occasions. Bucharest goalkeeper Helmut Duckadam stopping all four Barcelona penalties in 1986, a marathon shootout between Bayern Munich and Valencia in 2001, Liverpool’s 2005 comeback over AC Milan - these are just some of the final’s iconic moments via penalties.

While you wait for the final, take an interactive look at all 10 shootouts in the history of the European Cup Final in the visualization below.

Terry Francona returns to Boston on Thursday as manager of the Cleveland Indians to begin a four-game series against his former team. Francona managed the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships (2004 and 2007), the first of which broke an 86-year championship drought. This will be his first time back at Fenway Park as an opposing manager since being let go.

This isn’t the first time “Tito” has managed against the Sox at Fenway, however. The last time was on July 17, 1999, when Francona was with the Phillies, who won 11-3 thanks to Doug Glanville’s 4-for-6, three-run night.

Are the Sox on the rebound?
Francona recorded 744 wins as Red Sox manager, the second most in franchise history, and posted a winning record in each of his eight seasons at the helm.

While the Red Sox organization seems to have righted the ship in 2013, there’s no question that the Red Sox have been less successful since Francona’s departure.

Between 2004 and 2011 the Red Sox had a .574 win percentage and made five postseason appearances, winning two championships. Over the past two seasons Boston has a .464 win percentage and has not made the postseason since 2009.

Francona’s Windians
Cleveland has been winning in a variety of ways this season and enters the series with the Red Sox at 26-19, one-half game ahead in the AL Central.

Francona’s Indians rank first in MLB in extra-inning wins and have the best record in one-run games. However, it’s worth noting that Cleveland’s hot start is not particularly “new."

In each of the past three seasons the Indians have found themselves leading the AL Central through 45 games.

What is the difference with this season’s Indians squad compared to last season?

The pitching rotation has certainly improved. Cleveland’s starters own a 4.51 ERA currently, compared to 5.25 last season, which ranked 28th in MLB. The Cleveland rotation is striking out batters at a rate of 20.9 percent compared to 15.3 percent of the time last season.

Also, the Indians are showing that they have big time power at the plate. Cleveland had 37 home runs through 45 games last season, compared to 62 already this season, the most in MLB. The Indians have not led the league in home runs since 1995.

The offseason acquisitions that Cleveland made have been paying dividends early on. One of them is Mark Reynolds, who leads the team with 12 HR, and his 37 RBI are sixth most in the league.

Tough road ahead
The Indians entered their two-game series against Detroit with a 26-17 record, having won 18 of their previous 22 games.

After being swept by the Tigers, it does not get any easier for the Indians, as their next 23 games are against teams who currently have a record of .500 or better, including the Red Sox.

Cleveland is 18-8 with an ERA of 3.48 against teams that are below .500 this season. Against teams with a .500 record or better, they are 8-11 with an 4.95 ERA.

Hiroki Kuroda takes the hill for the New York Yankees against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday Night Baseball (ESPN, 7 ET).

Kuroda is 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA in four career starts against the Orioles (including the postseason), all coming since he joined the Yankees. He’s pitched at least seven innings in each of those outings and thrown a pitch in the ninth inning in three of them.

In his start this season, he threw a 5-hit shutout, including just two hits over his final 23 batters faced.

Kuroda has done a number on righties this season, holding them to a .399 OPS, which is 55 points lower than the next-closest starter. He’s struck out 21 righties and walked just 3 (18 strikeouts, 11 walks vs LHB).

He’s also been great against the middle of the order this season. He’s allowed a .384 OPS to opposing 4-7 hitters, the lowest among starters in the American League.

One of those righties will be Orioles third baseman Manny Machado. The 20-year-old is hitting .348 against right-handed pitchers this season -- Miguel Cabrera is the only AL righty hitting higher against righties.

Machado was the youngest Opening Day starting 3B since Adrian Beltre in 1999 for the Dodgers. He was the youngest in the AL since Brooks Robinson in 1957.

You can see above how Machado compares to other young stars.

Matchups to Watch
The Yankees bullpen has combined to post a 1.73 ERA (11 ER, 57 1/3 IP) and hold opponents to a .200 (38-for-205) batting average with 60 K and just 13 BB in May. The winning run last night was the first run allowed by the Yankees bullpen on the road this month (in 27 2/3 IP).

Power Up the Middle
Two of the top three middle infielders in home runs since the start of the 2011 season are in this game -- Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano (first with 70) and Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy (third with 60).

He’s Going Streaking
Ichiro Suzuki has an active 20-game hit streak at Camden Yards dating to April 2008, hitting .391 (34-87) in that span.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, a hit tonight would tie him with Joey Votto (at Minute Maid Park) for the longest active hit streak at a single park and put him one behind Jacoby Ellsbury (from August 2008-August 2012) for the longest hit streak at Camden Yards.

Cutting Down on Ks
In a season where strikeouts are at an all-time high, the Orioles have cut down on the strikeouts from last season. They struck out at the third-highest rate in the AL last season (21% of PA). This year, they have the AL’s second-lowest K rate behind Texas (17%).

• Chris Davis cut his K rate from 30% to 25%
• Manny Machado cut his from 19% to 14%
• J.J. Hardy cut his from 15% to 10%
• Nick Markakis cut his from 11% to 8%
• Nate McLouth cut his from 18% (with BAL last year) to 12%
• Mark Reynolds signed with the Indians (30% last season)

Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher has announced his retirement after 13 NFL seasons. He’s one of four players in NFL history with 40 sacks and 20 interceptions (sacks became an official statistic in 1982).

He was an eight-time Pro Bowler and the all-time leading tackler in Bears history (according to the team).

He’s in the top 10 in franchise history in games played and sacks, and he’s tied for 11th in interceptions.

Urlacher is one of just seven players in NFL history to win the Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in his career.

Of the six others, three are in the Hall of Fame and two of the remaining three are still active players.

Hall-of-Famers Mike Singletary (10) and Walter Payton (nine) are the only Bears players with more Pro Bowl selections than Urlacher, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Urlacher’s value showed when he missed the last four games of the season in 2012, the Bears defense struggled.

Over the past four seasons, Chicago allowed a Total QBR of 39.5 with Urlacher on the field and a 60.1 Total QBR with Urlacher off the field.

During Urlacher's tenure with the Bears, which began in 2000, Chicago's defense was in the top five in the NFL in points per game, third-down percentage and takeaways.

Urlacher is part of a long line of elite linebackers the team has produced over the years. Look how he stacks up to some other Hall of Fame Bears linebackers.

Mike Trout hadn’t had a signature moment in 2013, the kind that he had regularly in 2012, until Tuesday night.

Trout became the sixth-youngest player to hit for the cycle, notching a single, double, triple and home run in the Los Angeles Angels' 12-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.

Let’s run through our collection of notes on Trout’s big day.

The history
The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that Trout is the youngest American League player to hit for the cycle, and the youngest player with one in either league since another phenom, Cesar Cedeno of the Houston Astros, hit for the cycle at age 21 in 1972.

Trout and Alex Rodriguez are the only 21-year-olds in AL history to hit for the cycle. Trout is 25 days younger than Rodriguez was when he hit for the cycle for the Seattle Mariners in 1997.

Trout is also one of only three players in that same span to hit for the cycle in a game in which he also drove in five or more runs and stole at least one base.

The two instances happened more than 80 years ago: Babe Herman for the 1931 Brooklyn Dodgers and Tony Lazzeri for the 1932 New York Yankees.

This was the seventh time someone has hit for the cycle in Angels history, the first since Chone Figgins had one in a loss to the Texas Rangers in 2006. Trout is the sixth different Angels player to hit for the cycle. Former Angels infielder and manager Jim Fregosi had two of them.

It marked the second straight season that a player hit for the cycle against the Mariners. Aaron Hill did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks last season.

Trout’s hitting
Trout entered the day hitting .278 for the season. He’d raised his batting average 17 points in May, but was 1-for-12 in his previous four games, and 1-for-9 on pitches in the lower half of the strike zone or below it.

That’s unsual because that’s the area in which Trout thrived last season.

Trout was the best hitter in baseball when at-bats ended in pitches to that area last season, leading the majors in all three slashline stats (.360/.394/.608). His 21 home runs were tied for seventh-most in the majors.

Until Tuesday, Trout hadn’t had that kind of magic, with a .259 batting average against those pitches.

But Tuesday may have cured what ailed him. All four of his hits came against pitches in the lower half of the zone, or just below it, including the final hit, a home run on a pitch that wasn’t even knee-high.

The three pitchers with the best ERAs in baseball took the mound on Monday night, and the one who was most dominant was neither Clayton Kershaw nor Shelby Miller, but Arizona Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin.

Let’s run through some of the highlights of Corbin’s performance, which was unusually good from both a historical and statistical perspective.

The accolades
Corbin threw a three-hit complete game with 10 strikeouts.

He is the third visiting pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete game at Coors Field with 10 or more strikeouts, and the first since 1998. The list is in the chart on the right.

Only one Diamondbacks lefty had previously recorded a complete game, allowing three hits or fewer with 10 or more strikeouts-- Randy Johnson, who did so seven times for them.

Corbin is the second pitcher in the last 20 seasons to open a season with nine straight starts in which he allowed two runs or fewer in six innings or more.

The other is Ubaldo Jimenez, who opened 2010 with a dozen straight such starts for the Rockies.

How he won
Corbin took advantage of the Rockies’ willingness to swing at pitches outside the strike zone.

He threw 74 of his 97 pitches for strikes, despite less than half of his pitches being thrown inside the Pitch F/X strike zone.

Corbin repeatedly tantalized Rockies hitters with his breaking ball. He threw 34 of them and the Rockies went after 21, missing on 15 of them (almost all of which were thrown down-and-in to righties or down-and-away from lefties).

This breaking ball is Corbin’s signature pitch. Opponents have taken 94 swings at it and missed 54 times. His 58 percent miss rate is easily the highest in the majors.

Corbin’s 39 strikeouts with his breaking pitches are the third-most of any pitcher in the NL this season, trailing only A.J. Burnett’s 44 and Clayton Kershaw's 42.

Looking ahead
Corbin is the second pitcher in the last three seasons to win his first seven decisions of the season for the Diamondbacks. Micah Owings did so in 2011.

Corbin is two wins away from the Diamondbacks' club record for wins to start a season. Brandon Webb started the 2008 season with a 9-0 mark.

Corbin should next start against the San Diego Padres this weekend. He held the Padres to one run in seven innings in that appearance.

Jacob Nitzberg contributed research to this post.

With 10 wins in 15 starts, CC Sabathia has the second-most victories at Camden Yards among visiting pitchers -- only teammate Andy Pettitte (16-4) has more.

The Baltimore Orioles won’t dodge Pettitte -- who is on the disabled list -- when they start a three-game series with the New York Yankees, but on Monday (7 ET on ESPN and WatchESPN) the O’s will face Sabathia.

In 26 career starts against the Orioles, Sabathia is 17-4 with a 3.03 ERA; however, last season he was 0-2 with a 6.38 ERA in three starts at Camden Yards.

Sabathia has experienced a massive drop in fastball velocity (93.7 mph in 2011, 92.2 in 2012, 89.8 this season), but his slider has been as good as ever. Opponents this season are hitting .111 (7-63, two walks, 31 strikeouts) in at-bats ending with a slider.

One key for the Orioles will be whether they can get to Sabathia after the first inning. In nine starts, Sabathia has allowed eight earned runs (8.00 ERA) in the first inning. After the first, Sabathia’s ERA drops to 2.32.

Another reason Baltimore needs to score early? The Yankees are 18-0 when scoring first -- the only team this season that has yet to lose when scoring first. In the modern era, only the 1990 Reds (20-0) and 1902 Pirates (19-0) started a season with more consecutive wins in games in which they scored the first run than this year's Yankees, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Also according to Elias, the Yankees have lost just twice in 2013 when leading at any point in the game.

The Orioles are 0-5 on an eight-game homestand, and what went right in 2012 has not carried over in the first two months of 2013.

• In 2012, Baltimore was 29-9 in one-run games. This season, they are 6-5.

• Last season, the O’s were 75-1 when leading after eight innings. This season, they’ve already lost three such games (18-3).

If the Orioles can hit Sabathia like they did a year ago, it could mean not having to face Mariano Rivera, whose 74 saves against the Orioles are the most against one team in major-league history.

Rivera has converted all 16 save chances to start the season. He’s had only one longer streak of consecutive converted saves to start a season: in 2008, Rivera converted each of his first 28 save opportunities.

Also, Rivera’s next trip to the mound will tie him with Hoyt Wilhelm (1,070) for fifth-most appearances by a pitcher in major-league history.

The 2013 college football season could showcase one of the best college quarterback classes ever. Here are five reasons why:

1. BEST TEAMS IN 2012 RETURN THEIR QUARTERBACKS
Each of the top six teams in last season’s final AP poll returns its leading passer. The last time that happened was entering the 1982 season. That 1982 group led to the famed 1983 NFL draft class that boasted six quarterbacks chosen in the first round -- including Hall of Famers John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino.

2. BEST PASSERS ARE RETURNING
Each of the top five and 10 of the top 11 quarterbacks in terms of passing efficiency return to school. In all, seven players with a passing efficiency of at least 160 last season are coming back, more than in the previous three seasons combined.

3. DIVERSE ARRAY OF NFL TALENT
This class is expected to produce a number of NFL starting quarterbacks. Four of Todd McShay’s top 15 prospects in the 2014 draft are quarterbacks (Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Clemson’s Tajh Boyd, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and Alabama’s AJ McCarron).

Yet, showing how deep this class is, Brock Huard ranks Georgia's Aaron Murray, Oregon's Marcus Mariota and Ohio State's Braxton Miller ahead of either McCarron or Manziel on his quarterback draft board.

4. LITTLE QB TURNOVER IN SEC
The SEC is in prime shape to win its eighth straight national title with 11 of 14 starting quarterbacks from last season returning to school. Among the 11 are the starters of the top three teams in each division including Manziel, Murray and McCarron.

Last season, Manziel set the SEC record for total offense with 5,116 yards. Murray is on pace to set conference records for most career passing yards and total offense, and McCarron is the two-time BCS national champion.

5. AWARD WINNERS BACK ON CAMPUS
The SEC isn’t the only conference returning elite quarterbacks. The Big Ten, Mountain West and MAC each return their first- and second-team quarterbacks from last season. So would Conference USA and the WAC if realignment hadn’t altered those conferences. The Big 12 is the only conference that doesn’t return either its first- or second-team quarterback.

Among the returnees, Boyd could challenge the ACC record for total offense in a career, Troy’s Corey Robinson is on pace to shatter the Sun Belt’s career record for total offense, and Jordan Lynch returns after leading Northern Illinois to its first ever BCS bowl game last season.

Our weekly review of interesting and notable stats you might have missed.

Give Me Five
Billy Butler of the Kansas City Royals went 5-for-5, with 5 RBI, in Monday's 11-4 victory against the Los Angeles Angels. And he had that big game without going deep. Butler's RBI came on two doubles and a single.

Butler was the first player to have five hits and five driven in since Josh Hamilton's four-homer game last season. And in franchise history, only one other Royal had reached five-and-five in the same game: Kevin Seitzer (6-for-6, 2 HR, 7 RBI) against the Red Sox on August 2, 1987.

On Tuesday, Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies also went 5-for-5 in a 9-4 win against the Chicago Cubs.

That was the first five-hit game by a Colorado batter in three years, and two of those hits left the yard. That made CarGo just the third player in franchise history to have five hits, including two homers, in a single game. Andres Galarraga had a six-hit, two-homer game in 1995, and Vinny Castilla did it in a 12-inning contest in July 1997.

And the week wasn't over. Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers went 5-for-5 in Saturday's 7-2 victory against the Tigers. He's the first leadoff hitter to go a perfect 5-for-5 (or better) since Derek Jeter on July 9, 2011. That's the game where Jeter homered for his 3,000th hit.

Prior to this week there had been just one other five-hit game this season, by Carlos Santana of the Cleveland Indians on April 7.

Slugfest of the Week: Rays 12, Orioles 10
The Rays scored seven runs off starter Jason Hammel, added three more off Sean Burnett (who needed 28 pitches to get one out), and were up 12-4 before Jeremy Hellickson got in trouble in the 8th. A Nate McLouth triple started the inning, and the Orioles strung together five straight two-out hits en route to a six-run frame.

The teams combined for 30 hits (only nine games this season have gotten there; the high is 33 by the Diamondbacks and Cardinals on April 3), and each team had six extra-base hits.

Both starters gave up 10 hits and at least seven runs. That hadn't happened in any game since July 20, 2009, when the Minnesota Twins' Nick Blackburn and Gio Gonzalez "dueled" in a 14-13 Oakland Athletics win.

On the other hand, Hellickson walked just one hitter and Hammel two, and that combination (10-plus hits, seven-plus runs, max of two walks) hadn't been achieved by a pair of starters in more than a decade. John Patterson of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Mets' Al Leiter each posted that line on August 4, 2002.

The Orioles also had two triples (Yamaico Navarro had the other), the first time they've done that in almost three years (July 7, 2010, at Detroit). That had been the longest drought without a multi-triple game by any team.

Winning Ugly
Hellickson got the win in that game on Friday despite being charged with eight runs. But he wasn't the only one this week.

Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants worked into the seventh inning against the Rockies on Thursday, allowing six runs and three homers. He got the win only because Jhoulys Chacin gave up eight runs.

On Friday, Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals pitched 5 1/3 innings with six runs allowed, but won because Wily Peralta of the Brewers allowed seven.

There have been five instances this season of a pitcher allowing six or more runs and getting a win, all in the last 10 days. And the last time three pitchers did it in two days was on April 13, 2009, when Edinson Volquez, Gavin Floyd, and Koji Uehara all barely made it through the required five innings.

The last two-day span where all three pitchers went beyond the five-inning minimum was May 25-26, 1992. Those lucky winners were Butch Henry of the Astros, Charles Nagy of the Indians, and the Orioles' (and ESPN's) Rick Sutcliffe.

The San Antonio Spurs didn't yield a point to Zach Randolph until there was 9:26 left on the clock in the fourth quarter. By that point, the Spurs already had an 18-point lead.

So it went for Randolph, who entered the game leading the Memphis Grizzlies in scoring this postseason with 19.7 points per game.

Randolph finished with two points, a playoff career low in games where he played at least 10 minutes.

The Spurs limited him to just 11 offensive touches. ESPN Stats & Info video tracking defined those as "touches on the offensive end of the floor," including offensive rebounds.

What's more, only two of Randolph's 11 offensive touches came in a post-up situation. Entering the game the Grizzlies led the NBA in scoring from post-ups this postseason with 221 points (20.1 per game).

Spurs three-for-all
The Spurs set a franchise playoff record by hitting 14 three-pointers in the game.

They spread those 14 three-pointers among six different players while the Grizzlies three-pointers were made by only one player: Quincy Pondexter.


And in what must make Gregg Popovich happy, all 14 of the Spurs three-pointers were assisted.

The Spurs spread the bounty there, too. While six different players made a three-pointer, seven different players assisted on one. That includes kick-out passes from Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter.

Spotting Pop a lead
Now the Grizzlies are looking at 1-0 deficit against a coach that has won more than 120 playoff games and four championships.

Gregg Popovich is 19-3 all-time in best-of-seven playoff series when his team wins Game 1. His .864 series win percentage after Game 1 wins ranks only behind Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach among head coaches with 15 postseason series worth of experience all-time.

Both Jackson (36-0 series record) and Auerbach (15-0) had perfect series records after winning the opener.

Sunday's matchup between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers features a pair of starting pitchers with a common bond.

Rangers starter Derek Holland and Tigers starter Doug Fister are the two pitchers who have been very successful at limiting opposing damage.

They also have pitched inside the most of any starters in the game this season. Holland has done so by significantly increasing the use of one of his primary pitches. Fister's attempts to pitch inside may have added a little bit of a fear factor to his game.

Let’s go further inside the pitching matchup and look at the stats that Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser and John Kruk will be talking about on the Sunday Night Baseball telecast.

Holland
Holland enters the day 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He is averaging 6.9 innings per start this season. Entering Saturday that ranked sixth-best in the American League.

In the early part of the season, Holland has limited the damage against him in two respects. He’s cut back on his walks (to 1.8 per nine innings), and he’s limited hard contact.

Opponents have recorded what our video-tracking service denotes as a “hard-hit ball” on 15 percent of the at-bats they’ve had against him this season. That’s down from his 21 percent rate in 2012. After allowing 32 home runs in 2012, he’s yielded just two in 2013.

You might be surprised to know that Holland is tied for the highest average velocity on his fastball among left-handed starting pitchers at 93.3 mph (same as now-injured David Price, and 0.8 mph faster than Clayton Kershaw).

But what’s worked for Holland most significantly this season has been the use of a slider as his finish pitch.

Holland is throwing his slider twice as often with two strikes in 2013 (44 percent of pitches) as he did in 2012. He’s struck out 37 hitters with that pitch this season, which was the most in the majors entering the weekend.

Holland has thrown 105 two-strike sliders, 62 percent of which have been "inside" (defined as over the inner-third of the plate, or off the inside corner). He pitches inside with that pitch more than anyone else in the sport.

Is it working? Consider this: Holland allowed 14 two-strike homers last season. He’s given up none in 2013.

As well as Holland as pitching, his numbers could be even better. His Fielding Independent Pitching (an ERA estimator tied to strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed) was 2.35, more than a half-point better than his ERA.

Matchup to watch:Torii Hunter was 6-for-his-first-29 against Holland, but has four hits in his last five at-bats against him. Hunter has become more of an opposite-field hitter during a stretch that started after last year’s All-Star Break. Holland has seen that. Three of Hunter’s last four hits against Holland have been to center or right field.

Fister
Much like Holland, Fister has excelled at limiting home runs allowed.

Since the start of the 2011 season, Tigers starter Doug Fister has been the toughest pitcher (among ERA qualifiers) to hit a home run against. Fister is allowing 0.57 home runs per nine innings and ranks among the best in the majors with a 1.30 ground-ball/fly-ball ratio. This season, Fister has allowed only one home run on the 67 balls hit in the air against him.

As noted, Fister has lived on and off the inside corner this year to an extreme level. He’s actually hit more batters (10) than he has walked (8). He has more hit batsmen than all of his teammates combined.

Fister has had an odd platoon split this season. Left-handed hitters are hitting .196 with a .507 OPS against him. Right-handed hitters are hitting .320 with a .768 OPS, atypical for Fister, against whom righties hit .246 with a .626 OPS from 2010 to 2012.

Fister’s success against lefties is partly attributable to lower-than-average batting averages on balls in play on both ground balls and line drives, and an ability to bounce back when he falls behind in the count.

Lefties are 6-for-43 with no extra-base hits after Fister falls behind in the count, 1-0 against them.

Working inside has also made a difference. Lefties have only three hits in the 21 at-bats against Fister that ended with a pitche over the inner-third of the plate, or off the inside corner.

Matchup to watch: Rangers outfielder David Murphy has hit four home runs against Fister, twice as many as anybody else. All four homers came against pitches that were up in the strike zone, as noted in the image below.

Michael Bonzagni also contributed to this post

If a pitcher decides to pitch the Arizona Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt up in the strike zone, he's doing so at a high risk.

The image above shows the two pitches on which Goldschmidt homered on Friday. The image at the bottom of this story shows the pitches on which Goldschmidt has hit his dozen home runs this season.

Goldschmidt’s recent hot streak has been fueled by the ability to drill pitches thrown to the spots in the upper half of the zone and above.

Consider this stat:

Since May 6, Goldschmidt has taken 51 swings against pitches thrown to that area.

He’s swung-and-missed seven times.

He’s hit six home runs.

For the season, Goldschmidt is hitting .405 with a major league-best 10 home runs when at-bats end in those pitches.

Those 10 homers are only one shy of the total number of upper-half (or above) home runs he had last season … on 625 fewer pitches.

Goldschmidt has shown a propensity to be more selective against those pitches this season. His “chase rate” against what we would call “up, but out of the strike zone” pitches this season is 27 percent.

Last season, he had a chase rate of 37 percent against those pitches.

But even when he goes after a bad pitch, he’s still having success. Goldschmidt doubled on an “up but out of the zone” pitch on Friday, his eighth such hit and fifth for extra bases this season.

The chart on the right shows how stark the difference is in his performance compared with 2012.

Last season, he totaled five extra-base hits against those pitches.