During the 2004 season, Oliver Perez had one of the best pitching seasons I can recall from a Pittsburgh Pirates starter in the last few decades. The Pirates don’t have a lot of great pitching performances to choose from since the days of Doug Drabek, and that’s been mostly true since Perez.
Perez had a 2.98 ERA in 196 innings, striking out 239 batters on the season. His K/9 mark is the highest in team history by any starter. His strikeout totals are still the highest mark since the 1960s, and fifth-highest in team history.
What stood out to me, as someone who started following the Pirates more often in 2004 specifically due to Perez, was the excitement when he got to two strikes.