Mark Buehrle almost single-handedly snapped the Blue Jays’ seven-game losing streak on Thursday, throwing a two-hitter against the Astros for his ninth career shutout.
Buehrle’s previous two shutouts were his two no-hitters, the first against the Rangers on 2007 and the other being a perfect game against the Rays in 2009. He hadn’t thrown a shutout that wasn’t a no-hitter since 2005.
Buehrle, never a big strikeout guy, also fanned nine for just the third time in his stellar career. He struck out 12 Mariners on April 16, 2005, but that was his only double-digit strikeout game. He also had nine strikeouts way back on June 26, 2003 against the Twins.
Buehrle said afterwards that he was inspired to have a quick outing tonight (the contest took just 2:18); he was slated to attend a Tim McGraw concert following the game.
