Tanner Roark shaves beard, leads Nationals to record performance

If the Minnesota Twins thought they were catching a break on Saturday because they weren’t facing Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg or Gio Gonzalez, they had another thing coming.

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And then another thing, and then another thing, and then about 15 more things, on their way to striking out 18 times in what was a record-setting performance for Washington Nationals pitching.  

18 strikeouts for Nats pitchers today. Most for Nats ever in a nine-inning game.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) April 23, 2016

The man who had really had their number and really set the tone was 29-year-old right-hander Tanner Roark. In parts of four big league seasons, Roark has been one of those tweeners who floats between the rotation and the bullpen based on what’s needed. That makes him a valuable asset, but not necessarily one you’d expect to completely overwhelm an MLB offense on a given day.

He dominated on Saturday though, recording 15 of his 21 outs via the strikeout. That put him on line to tie or even break the nine-inning, single-game record of 20 strikeouts that’s held by Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Randy Johnson. Only his high pitch count (121 pitches, 78 for strikes) prevented him from making a run at that record. He ended up allowing just two hits while walking three to lead Washington to a 2-0 victory. 

Roark’s 15 strikeouts were also the most by a Nationals starter at Nationals Park, so there was some individual history involved here too. But there may have something even bigger in play here. 

Dusty on Roark’s performance (among other thoughts): “He shaved his beard off, so that had something to do with it.”

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) April 23, 2016

Maybe there’s something there considering Roark had only struck out nine through his first 17 innings this season.

Or maybe it’s just the Twins offense that was a little overaggressive. They came into Saturday tied for the sixth-most strikeouts in MLB, and the parade did continue against Nationals relievers Blake Treinen, Oliver Perez and Jonathan Papelbon, who each struck out one.

Regardless of the reasons why, this was definitely a good day for the Nationals, as they improved to 13-4. And it was an especially good day for Tanner Roark, sans his customary facial hair. 

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813