There's a thing called a "Maddux" — named after, not Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, but his younger brother Greg.
Greg Maddux is in the Hall of Fame and is one of the greatest pitchers in history with arguably the best control of anyone, and now he's a special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels.
On Sunday, young lefty Martin Perez was on his way to what they call "a Maddux" — a complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches. Maddux did it with fair regularity, a Ranger hadn't done it in a long time.
Through four innings of work, Perez had thrown 34 pitches — 30 strikes and four balls. That's remarkable efficiency, and he displayed it throughout the day. After seeing his perfect game in the fifth with an error and his no-hitter ending a batter later with an infield single, he continued to cruise. Through eight innings, he'd thrown 75 pitches and held the Giants to one hit — that infield single.
After a quick out in the ninth, he allowed a double, and his day was finished (we'll get to that in a second).
It was a far cry from Perez's previous outing when he lasted one inning and threw 45 pitches while allowing seven hits and eight earned runs in what ended up being a 21-5 loss to the New York Yankees. In that game, Perez was handed a 5-0 lead after one inning before coming back in the second and giving up those eight runs without recording an out.
It was the model of inefficiency. On Sunday, Perez turned in one of the most impressive outings in Rangers history, and hopefully it's a sign of things to come for the 24-year-old with the surgically repaired left elbow.
