The other day I wrote about the Kangaroos’ rookie Reid Detmer’s no-hitter. Apparently no-hitters are no big; the Captain Kangaroo wasn’t even watching.
The cosmos was not amused. So last night it produced a no-win-no-no, featuring TWO EFL pitchers. One, like Detmers, was a rookie: the Balk’s Hunter Greene. The other was a veteran making a comeback: the Rosebuds’ Jose Quintana.
Greene, pitching for the Reds, surrendered no hits. Quintana — the wily old fox pitching for the Pirates — surrendered no runs. Neither finished the game, but Quintana got the win despite his three hits allowed (and one walk) over 7 innings. Greene took the loss, despite giving up no hits.
Greene did walk 5 batters including two in the 8th inning. After getting a ground out to first base, Greene walked the next two batters. At that point he was pulled from the game, despite having an active no-hitter — although he was at 118 pitches. Reliever Art Warren walked the first batter he faced, then got Wolverine Ke’Bryan Hayes to ground out to second base. But Hayes became the offensive hero of the game by beating the throw to first to avoid a double play, allowing the run to score (and preventing the Wolverines from being saddled with a GDP. Thank you, Ke’Bryan.)
Greene’s record at this point for the 2022 season: 1 – 6, with an ERA of 6.21. Since joining the Rosebuds after our end-of-April draft, he has started 3 games, covering 15.3 innings, and allowing 11 earned runs, for a worse-than-replacement 6.46 ERA. Which is why the Rosebuds allocated him at 50% this week, meaning they’ll get 3 2/3 innings while allowing half of an earned run out of Greene’s no-hit outing.
Meanwhile, the crafty Balk have Quintana allocated at 100%, so they get all 7 of his shutout innings, bringing his 2022 ERA down to 2.19. He got no decision, so it was a no-win-no-no for him, too.
Quintana’s work, plus some decent hitting, gave the Balk the lead in the EFL, until I processed Nestor Cortes’ 8 ip, 1 er performance in New York for the Wolverines (and some NY team whose name we prefer not to disclose, as it is somewhat embarrassing to OD management). Cortes was supported by 2 2/3 innings from three Wolverine relievers. According to Fangraphs, Cortes now has the lowest ERA of any qualifying pitcher in the American League (1.35). Haviland’s Pablo Lopez’ ERA is lower — 1.05! — but he pitches in the National League. He turned in 7 innings, 1 earned run earlier this week.
Other notable performances from Sunday:
Peshastin: The Pears got no pitching Sunday, an ongoing challenge for them, and only has 7 batters. But 5 of those 7 OPSed 1.000 or better on the day, led by Joey Bart (1 for 3 with a homer and a walk, for an OPS of 1.833). The other two batters went 0 for 5 total, so the team’s line came in at .315, .375, .682 (1.057).
Kaline also had 5 batters OPSing over 1.000, in their case led by Patrick Wisdom’s 2.000 (2 for 4 with a homer and a double). There were 6 other Drive batters, so the team average was a still-respectable .257, .278, .486 (.763), but they also got two shutout innings of pitching.
Salem ALSO had 5 batters OPSing over 1.000, in their case led by the once-maligned-by-his-current-management Adolis Garcia, who went 2 fof 4 with two homers for a 2.500 OPS. Toss in Mookie Bett’s 2 for 4 with a homer and a double (2.000) and Shohei Ohtani’s 1 for 3 with a homer and a walk (1.933), and you have a mountain of OPS piled up against the five sub-1.000 hitters to create a team OPS of 1.153 on the day. Robbie Ray’s 6 ip, 5 er casts some shade on the party in Salem, but the Seraphim still claimed a win.
Canberra only had four batters OPSing over 1.000 Sunday, but their top batter was Julio Rodriguez, who went 4 for 4 with a walk and a home run for a 2.750 daily OPS, and the team’s line across eight hitters was a staggering .407, .433, .778 (1.211).
We’re out of teams with 1.000 plus group OPSes. Two Cascades topped the 1.000 metric mark (esp. Garrett Stubbs, 2 for 3 with a homer and a walk, 1.750, but the team only managed a .670 OPS. Bellingham rode stored up excellent pitching (1.33 ERA over 20.3 innings pitched) to stay afloat in the pennant race. Flint Hill’s Joey Gallo led the way for the Tornados with a homer, double, and walk in four plate appearances (1.833 EF), and had two teammates join him in the 1.000-and-above OPS club, but the breezed along for a .573 OPS. In Pittsburgh, only Luis Roberts touched 1.000 (2 singles in 4 plate appearances), and the Alleghenys managed only a .480 team OPS.