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          SweetSpot

          Thursday's power rankings

          Jun 26, 2015
          • David SchoenfieldESPN Senior Writer
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            • Senior writer of SweetSpot baseball blog
            • Former deputy editor of Page 2
            • Been with ESPN.com since 1995
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          1. Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros. He fanned a career-high 12 batters in recording his third career shutout and second of 2015. Most impressively, manager A.J. Hinch left him in after the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate. Yes, pitchers can still throw complete games!

          2. Jacob deGrom, New York Mets. The pitching line against the Brewers says it all: 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO. An efficient 100 pitches, his fifth start of the season with no runs allowed, and now a 2.15 ERA. Can you say All-Star? Can you say a much-needed result for the Mets, who snapped a seven-game skid? Six of his seven strikeouts came with his fastball. Nothing fancy in this game. See if you can hit it. The Brewers couldn't.

          3. Washington Nationals starters. Doug Fister tossed seven scoreless innings in a 7-0 victory over the Braves as the Nationals went an entire trip through the rotation without allowing a run. That's 41 1/3 consecutive scoreless frames, setting a franchise record, breaking the old mark of the 1981 Expos. The erratic Nationals have now won six in a row to climb back up to seven games over .500.

          4. San Francisco Giants triple their fun. Four of the Giants' 19 hits were triples in their 13-8 win over the Padres. The Giants became the second team with four triples in a game this season -- the Twins did it on June 14 -- and did it for the first time in franchise history since Sept. 15, 1960. A guy named Willie Mays hit three that day.

          5. Sean Conroy. Conroy, a pitcher for the Sonoma Stompers of the independent Pacific Association of Baseball Clubs, is the first active openly gay professional baseball player. Conroy, who had recorded four saves as a reliever, made his first start on Thursday and threw a complete-game three-hitter with 11 strikeouts. Conroy went 6-2 with a 1.87 ERA for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Division III school, this year. Great job, Sean. FYI, the Stompers are the team being run by writers Ben Lindbergh of Grantland and Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus. The team is off to a 16-3 start!