Liriano finished 2010 fifth in the AL in strikeouts with 201, while walking 58. He posted a 14–10 record for the year with a 3.62 ERA and a career-high innings pitched across 31 starts, 20 of which were quality. He was considered a Cy Young candidate by some writers, as his 2.66 FIP (a defense independent pitching statistic) was second only to Cliff Lee in the American League, and his 2.95 xFIP was first in the American League. Despite his ERA only ranking 14th in the league, Liriano posted an extremely low FIP primarily due to his ability to limit home runs. Liriano only allowed nine across the entire regular season (three of which came in his final start) and his HR/9 rate of 0.42 led the American League (which was also the lowest rate posted by a Twins starter in over 20 years). He was further benefited by his high strikeout totals, as his K/9 ratio of 9.44 ranked second in the AL behind Jon Lester and he was one of only five AL pitchers that year with at least 200 strikeouts.