when you have 8 K's in 6 innings and dudes keep swinging and missing, it's gonna be hard to be all that efficient K's don't increase pitch counts. they require more pitches than other types of outs if you're pitching well and getting outs, a high strikeout start is going to typically take more pitches than otherwise obviously, if you're not pitching well and not getting outs, and giving up lots of hits and runs, that is not going to result in a low pitch count either