The Day of the Dominant Pitchers

On a day dominated by starting pitching, if you didn’t have a lights-out starter, too bad for your team.

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Canberra:W, 7 – 2 (.250, .419, .375; 10.3 ip, 2 er)     Corey Kluber completed 8 scoreless 2-hit innings with 13 strikeouts and one walk. Kluber stole no bases and hit zero homers. Rhys Hoskins did the homer hitting for Canberra this time, and worked one walk in his 4 trips to the plate, leaving his season OPS at 1.374. It was enough to double the size of the Kangaroos’ lead over the Wolverines.

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Old Detroit:  DNP, 3 – 1.  (.344, .417, .594 — Happy Edgar Day!; 19 ip, 7 er).   The Angels have that pitcher who won two games in a week — one of them 7 scoreless one-hit innings — and hit three homers in between them.  Impressive, I guess.  But it took a whole week. Weenie. The Wolverines Monday had a pitcher (Max Scherzer) throw 9 scoreless two-hit innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks. They also had a pitcher (the same guy) steal a base.  And a pitcher (different guy) hit a three-run homer.  Even without counting Clayton Richard’s homer, the W’s had a great day at the plate, thanks in part to San Diego’s Corey Spangeberg, who assisted Carlos Gonzalez’s homer over the wall. And no thanks to Balk catcher Omar Narvaez, who made a spectacular tag to catch Mallex Smith stealing home, the only mar on Smith’s 4 for 4 day (with a double and a triple).

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Brookland: W 1, L (-1); (-1) – (-8). (.217, .308, .435; 15 IP, 5 ER)  Zack Godley got into the dominant starter parade with his 7 scoreless, 4- hit, 9 strikeout, no walk outing, beating fellow Out Derek Holland even though Holland pitched a solid 6 ip, 2 er. Only 6 Outs batted on what was essentially an off-day, but thee of them OPSed over 1.000, led by Manny Machado and his latest home run.

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Kaline: L, 5 – 5. (.250, .400, .500; no pitching)   Steve Pearce hit his second homer in two days on his way to a 2 for 4 day that raised his OPS to 1.110. Mentee (and fellow Old Detroit refugee) Jorge Soler added 2 for 3 with a walk to lead the Drive to a very narrow loss. Ian Desmond also contributed a solo homer.

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D.C.: W, 5 – 2. (.250, .318, .350; 7.7 ip, 2 er). Here’s still another EFL team benefiting from great pitching.  Dylan Bundy, heretofore mostly a frustrating project, spun 7 strong innings (10 so, 2 bb, 2 er).  Besides tagging Mallex Smith out, Omar Narvaez also put up 1.167 OPS to join with Scooter Gennett (1.350 OPS) to lead the Balk to another solid win.

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Pittsburgh:  “W” 2, “L” 1, 10 – 10 (.167, .235, .167;  5 ip, o er).  In a rare triple header (caused by the Indians replacing the Twins atop the MLB portion of the AL Central), Lance Lynn managed 5 scoreless innings, striking out 9. That was the only pitching, to go with a paltry day at the plate. If you want some more evidence of the genius of Allegheny management, note how it squeezed two wins v. one loss with these scant resources, and in the face of a 0.010 drop in winning percentage.  He won’t get away with it entirely, of course. If you examine the divisional standings below, you’ll notice the Alleghenys are really about 0.4 games worse than their record appears.

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Portland:  L, 6 – 10. (.279, .340, .465;  10.7 ip, 10 er)    The Rosebuds’ anticipated climb  to the top was delayed yet again, this time because Jon Gray got torched (5 ip, 7 er).  It got so bad he served up Clayton Richard’s home run.  Not only that, a double to disgraced Tornado Jose Pirela. And even Austin Hedges’ double (on the way to his own 3 for 4 fluke).

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Flint Hill: DNP .0 – 1.  (.200, .320, .300; 2 ip, 0 er).  A day after he was sent to AAA  Coronado Height (pictured below),

Jose Pirela took revenge by going 3 for 5 with a double. on the other hand, super prospect Yoan Moncada, finally free of having to worry about Pirela taking his job, responded by going 2 for 3 with a double and two walks. So maybe this was a masterful piece of human resources management: both players played better.

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Haviland: L, 4 – 7. (.278, .409, .333;  1 ip, 0 er).  Alex Colome quickly worked himself into a jam, with runners on second and third with no out and a one-run lead.  He got through the rest of the inning without allowing a run and the Dragons came away with a… well, not a win. Meanwhile middle infielders Zack Cozart (2 for 5) and Amed Rosario (2 for 4 wth a double), along with reclamation project Adrian Gonzalez (1 for 3 with a walk) provided all the Dragon offense.  Oh, yeah, Bryce Harper also walked 3 times in 4 trips.

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Cottage: DNP,  1 – 0.  (.269, .345, .423; 0.3 ip, 0 er). Mike Moustakas was the only one who did anything remarkable (3 for 5 with a double and a homer) unless you count Trout’s modest .650 OPS on the day among the “remarkable.”

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Peshastin: L, 4 – 8. (.250, .348, .250; 1 ip, 1 er).  This is painful to look at.  A proud franchise, getting absolutely no power and  almost no pitching. Even Joey Gallo settled for two singles in 5 trips.  Trey Mancini did the same for 3 singles and a walk in 5 trips.  There was no other good news in Peshastin yesterday.