Garcia has fifth-lowest MLB ERA since joining Cards rotation

At Chicago’s Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon, St. Louis Cardinals left-handed pitcher Jaime Garcia continued his mastery of major league hitters. On this day, the 24-year-old yielded just one run over seven innings, picking up his fifth win against no losses.

In the process, Garcia lowered his 2011 ERA to 1.89. Since the beginning of last season, when he joined the Cardinals rotation, Garcia’s 2.50 ERA is fifth among all major league rotation members with at least 30 starts. Of that group of MLB hurlers during this period, only a dozen of them have sub-3.00 ERAs.

MLB pitchers, 30 or more starts since beginning of 2010, ERAs of three or lower

Pitcher ERA Age G GS CG SHO W L W-L% IP H R ER BB SO HR IBB HBP BK WP Tm
Josh Johnson 2.15 26-27 36 36 1 0 14 7 0.667 239 187 63 57 66 239 9 3 6 1 5 FLA
Roy Halladay 2.37 33-34 41 41 12 4 26 12 0.684 312 281 89 82 39 285 25 1 7 1 6 PHI
Adam Wainwright 2.42 28-28 33 33 5 2 20 11 0.645 230 186 68 62 56 213 15 2 4 0 2 STL
Felix Hernandez 2.49 24-25 43 43 8 1 17 15 0.531 311 249 109 86 88 287 20 1 9 1 18 SEA
Jaime Garcia 2.50 23-24 36 36 3 3 18 8 0.692 215 193 80 60 76 180 11 4 4 1 7 STL
Clay Buchholz 2.67 25-26 35 35 1 1 20 10 0.667 212 186 74 63 86 143 15 2 5 1 8 BOS
Trevor Cahill 2.71 22-23 38 38 1 1 24 8 0.750 249 196 83 75 79 163 22 1 6 2 9 OAK
Jered Weaver 2.78 27-28 42 42 2 1 19 14 0.576 282 226 96 87 67 288 25 0 1 1 9 LAA
David Price 2.80 24-25 40 39 2 1 24 9 0.727 266 222 92 83 88 235 19 2 9 3 6 TBR
Roy Oswalt 2.83 32-33 38 37 2 2 16 14 0.533 238 183 81 75 62 214 21 2 6 1 3 HOU-PHI
Tim Hudson 2.88 34-35 42 42 2 1 21 12 0.636 284 234 98 91 84 168 23 10 11 0 9 ATL
Clayton Kershaw 2.95 22-23 40 40 1 1 17 13 0.567 256 207 91 84 99 265 19 10 7 2 5 LAD

Among Cardinals starting pitchers with a comparable career experience level since at least 1920, Garcia has logged the lowest ERA of them all – better than Hall of Famers like Steve Carlton and Dizzy Dean.

St. Louis Cardinals pitchers, first 50 games with at least 35 starts, 1920-present

Pitcher G W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO WHIP
Jaime Garcia 46 19 9 0.679 2.72 37 3 3 0 231 207 70 15 84 188 1.26
Joe Magrane 50 13 16 0.448 2.92 49 7 5 0 326 282 106 15 111 195 1.20
Matt Morris 50 19 14 0.576 2.97 50 5 1 0 330 309 109 20 111 228 1.27
Bob Forsch 50 21 14 0.600 2.98 45 11 5 0 307 284 102 19 98 135 1.24
Steve Carlton 50 15 11 0.577 3.10 35 10 1 1 238 233 82 14 80 179 1.31
Larry Jaster 50 20 10 0.667 3.12 39 10 5 2 277 243 96 28 83 163 1.18
Harvey Haddix 50 25 14 0.641 3.14 45 24 6 1 340 294 119 30 100 228 1.16
Jesse Haines 49 13 21 0.382 3.14 38 19 4 2 307 313 107 10 80 120 1.28
Dizzy Dean 50 19 17 0.528 3.22 36 17 4 2 313 299 112 14 108 203 1.30
Paul Dean 50 24 15 0.615 3.32 35 21 6 3 308 292 114 22 73 191 1.18
Silvio Martinez 40 16 11 0.593 3.35 37 8 4 0 252 219 94 17 103 111 1.27
John Denny 50 18 13 0.581 3.46 47 8 4 0 289 300 111 15 111 124 1.42
Ray Washburn 50 20 13 0.606 3.53 40 7 3 0 275 257 108 33 81 175 1.23
Ray Sadecki 50 20 15 0.571 3.54 50 17 1 0 335 298 132 37 169 187 1.39
Bill Pertica 49 18 13 0.581 3.55 37 16 2 2 263 276 104 10 97 85 1.42
Danny Cox 50 17 18 0.486 3.59 48 3 1 0 300 321 120 24 96 141 1.39
Vinegar Bend Mizell 50 18 14 0.563 3.60 50 13 3 0 315 287 126 19 161 242 1.42
Paul Derringer 50 22 15 0.595 3.62 35 19 4 2 293 335 118 14 88 164 1.44
Omar Olivares 50 16 11 0.593 3.64 43 1 0 1 301 266 122 25 107 157 1.24
Mike Torrez 50 18 14 0.563 3.65 36 6 1 0 246 217 100 14 149 139 1.49
Donovan Osborne 50 17 12 0.586 3.68 45 1 0 0 278 293 114 26 68 156 1.30
Rheal Cormier 50 15 18 0.455 3.74 48 5 0 0 303 318 126 24 46 178 1.20
John Stuper 50 16 15 0.516 3.78 40 5 0 0 259 270 109 19 104 100 1.44
Rick Ankiel 50 12 10 0.545 3.93 41 0 0 1 238 196 104 31 130 267 1.37
Joe Presko 50 17 17 0.500 3.93 37 10 1 1 279 272 122 32 91 117 1.30
Greg Mathews 50 20 17 0.541 3.94 49 2 1 0 313 302 137 32 108 158 1.31
Ken Hill 50 11 19 0.367 4.08 44 3 1 0 269 257 122 13 127 161 1.43
Kurt Kepshire 50 16 15 0.516 4.14 46 2 2 0 269 260 124 25 119 142 1.41
Flint Rhem 50 21 16 0.568 4.19 41 21 2 2 316 324 147 23 110 123 1.37
Rene Arocha 50 13 11 0.542 4.21 36 2 1 3 233 261 109 26 42 129 1.30
Jerry Reuss 50 20 20 0.500 4.37 50 11 4 0 315 323 153 22 142 186 1.47
Reggie Cleveland 50 12 15 0.444 4.37 35 10 2 0 247 265 120 22 71 168 1.36
Alan Benes 50 19 17 0.528 4.49 48 4 1 0 296 284 148 37 125 241 1.38
Jason Simontacchi 50 19 9 0.679 4.90 39 1 0 0 242 256 132 37 85 125 1.41
Allen Watson 50 16 16 0.500 5.16 47 0 0 0 260 293 149 35 100 146 1.51
Anthony Reyes 50 9 24 0.273 5.40 38 2 0 1 216 210 130 36 82 166 1.35

Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for pulling these lists.

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