KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Win-loss records for starting pitchers can be deceiving. But the season Max Scherzer is putting together is no fluke.

Never let 'em see you sweat? More like never let 'em see you lose. That's been the case through 13 starts for Scherzer, who became the first Detroit Tigers pitcher to start a season with a 9-0 record in 75 years with his team's

.

Scherzer changed jerseys at least twice during the game while pitching in the Kansas City heat. In the third through fifth innings, he wore one from the 2011 season that featured a Sparky Anderson patch on the sleeve.

But his performance on the mound was not similar to what he did two years ago. It was vintage 2013 Scherzer.

Scherzer shrugged off the 9-0 milestone after the game, instead choosing to focus on how he is pitching, not how the wins and losses added up.

"Don't get me wrong, I love being 9-0," he said. "But it's more important that we won. For me, it's all about going out there and pitching deep into the game and being effective. … It's kind of fluky how sometimes that stat can relate to pitching. For me, how I look at success is how well I pitched."

Scherzer rightfully pointed out how run support can affect a pitcher's record. The Tigers have plenty examples of that. Anibal Sanchez has a 2.65 ERA. He is 6-5.

Doug Fister has allowed one more earned run while pitching 1 2/3 more innings than Scherzer this season. Their ERAs (3.19 for Scherzer and 3.28 for Fister) are nearly identical. Yet Scherzer is 9-0 and is being heralded as a potential All-Star starter while Fister is languishing around the .500 mark at 5-4.

Still, while Scherzer was downplaying how wins and losses sometimes add up -- or don't add up -- he deserves credit for putting himself into position to earn victories. He has pitched deep into games with regularity. (He has pitched seven or more innings in eight of his past nine starts.) He has kept his team in games at times when they have struggled. (He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in nine of his 13 outings.)

The game Tuesday was a perfect example of both. Scherzer struggled a bit in the first inning and needed 26 pitches to get out of the first. His pitch count got up there a bit early. But he battled back and pitched seven innings. He was the pitcher of record when the Tigers scored in the top of the eighth inning only because he completed the bottom of the seventh.

If Scherzer had pitched 6 2/3 innings instead of seven innings, the pitcher who recorded the final out of the seventh would have earned the win. But instead, it was Scherzer.

Tigers starters have put themselves in good spots all season. They have turned in quality starts in 17 of the past 18 games. They lead the American League in victories (32), ERA (3.46), innings pitched (400.1), strikeouts (427) and WHIP (1.13).

Those are some pretty solid numbers in a lot of key categories.

The offense has let the Tigers down at times, mainly on the road, where they are just 14-17. But starting pitching will be key for the Tigers throughout the regular season and, most likely, in the postseason.

The season is not young. The Tigers have played 63 games and have 99 to go in the regular season. The numbers the starting pitchers have posted are no joke, even if the win-loss records -- Scherzer's, Fister's and everyone else's -- don't always add up the way they should.

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