Phillies' Mick Abel Makes Baseball History Despite Loss to Blue Jays

According to OptaSTATS , "Mick Abel of the @Phillies is the only MLB pitcher in the modern era to pitch at least 5.0 innings with no walks and no more than 1 run allowed in each of his first 2 career appearances."

That makes Abel's Wednesday night start one for the ages, even if it ended in a Phillies loss after closer Jordan Romano allowed a 1-1 tie to be broken with an RBI single in the ninth.

Abel has been nothing short of spectacular since getting the call for his long-awaited major league promotion.

During his debut, Abel struck out 9 batters over 6.0 innings versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. He did not walk a batter in that start either, except that time he didn't allow a run.

Although the strikeout numbers dipped a bit and the first earned run came across home plate on June 4, it was still another tremendous effort.

Abel is making things really difficult on the Phillies as they contemplate sending the rookie back down with Wheeler and Aaron Nola nearing a return. For the time being, veteran Taijuan Walker has been serving as the fifth and final starter with Nola sidelined.