Here's how Estes managed to throw a 'Maddux'

This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND – Before every game, pitching coach Scott Emerson sits down inside the film room with the previous day’s A’s starting pitcher to evaluate their outing in a process called "game review."

Thursday’s "game review" with Joey Estes was especially gratifying for Emerson. The 22-year-old rookie was still riding the high of the first shutout of his Major League career in Wednesday night’s 5-0 win against the Angels at the Coliseum. Because Estes completed the game in less than 100 pitches, it qualified as a “Maddux,” which added to the rarity of the feat.

“We were able to say, ‘Hey look, you put it all together in one game and this is what happens,’” Emerson said. “He had first-pitch strikes. He was going strike one, strike two. He was putting pitches, for the most part, where he wanted them. He got away with some mistakes. But that’s what happens every game. … What I liked, too, is when a guy got on base, he stayed poised. He stayed cool, calm and collected and got the next batter out.”

Estes fired first-pitch strikes to 21 of his 30 batters faced and wiped out leadoff baserunners in three different innings with double play balls. His 92 pitches were the fewest for an A’s pitcher in a nine-inning complete game since Rich Harden’s 80-pitch scoreless gem against the Rangers on July 14, 2005.

“It’s a testament to the mentality and the mindset that he has,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Estes. “You get into that sixth inning and you’re obviously aware that you’re deep into a game. … The focus and concentration and the competitor that he is, that’s what it takes to finish the game. He showed it. Overall, just a great performance.”

Here’s a look at some impressive stats from Estes’ masterpiece.

• Estes is the youngest A's pitcher to throw a Maddux and the only one (since 1988) to do it at 22 or younger. He’s also just the second A’s rookie to do it. The other was Doug Johns on Sept. 18, 1995.

• At 22 years and 270 days, Estes became the youngest pitcher in MLB over the last 20 seasons to throw a Maddux since Henderson Alvarez threw one at 22 years and 16 days old on May 4, 2012. Over that stretch, there have only been four pitchers aged 22 or younger to do it. All four also did it against the Angels. The others? Derek Holland in 2009 and Felix Hernandez in 2006

• Estes' 24 balls thrown were the second-fewest in a nine-inning shutout for an A's pitcher behind only Harden, who threw 19 balls in his Maddux.

• Estes’ Maddux snapped a streak of 515 consecutive games without a complete game for the A’s, which was the longest such streak in franchise history and third-longest in Major League history.