Just a few notes tonight, alas. Feel free to fill in the gaps!
Indians 5, @Twins 0: Derek Lowe‘s improbable season reached an implausible extreme with a 6-hit shutout, his first since 2005 and first CG since ’08. Lowe began the night with 13 walks and 13 Ks in 43.2 IP, then walked 4 without a strikeout. Lowe got 19 groundball outs, 4 of them DPs, and 2 of the hits were infield singles.
- The last MLB shutout with no Ks and 4+ walks was in 1989 by Doyle Alexander, who (like Lowe) was 38 at the time. The odd whitewash left Alexander at 3-0, 2.01 (and 191 career wins), but he went 3-18 the rest of the way and then retired.
- Lowe’s current rate of 2.22 SO/9 would be the lowest by a qualifier since 2003 (and you don’t want to emulate Nate Cornejo). Only two others since 1961 have averaged fewer Ks. The last 4 qualifiers to average less than 3 SO/9 all had ERAs over 4.30 (ERA+ under 93)
- Since Lowe’s debut in 1997, 101 pitchers have had 137 4-GIDP games, but this was Lowe’s first. He hadn’t had 3 in a game since 2009.
- On the surface, Lowe’s season to date looks eerily similar to his start in 2002, his best season (21-8, 2.58). Both years he was 6-1 after 8 starts; his ERA was 2.16 then, 2.05 now. The comparison doesn’t hold survive scrutiny; his 2002 K rate was three times as high, and he didn’t allow a HR in his first 12 starts (84 IP).
@Braves 6, Reds 2: A split of this mini-series put Atlanta back atop the NL East.
- A 4-run 3rd ended Johnny Cueto‘s streak of 5 starts with 6+ IP and 1 ER or less. There have been just 2 longer streaks Reds searchable history — 9 games by Bill Gullickson in 1986, and 6 by Johnny Vander Meer in 1938 (including those games).
- Zach Cozart went 0-4 with a walk, raising the club’s leadoff OBP by a whisper; they began the night at .197.
Tigers 10, @White Sox 8: Jake Peavy had Detroit in a 6-0 hole, but they dug out with an 8-run 6th built on 3-run HRs by Austin Jackson (now sporting the coveted (“3/4/5” slash line) and Ryan Raburn (hitting .149 with no HRs coming in), and a 2-run shot by Miguel Cabrera (ending a 14-game HR drought).
- In 6 games, Miggy has raised his BA from .263 to .308, going 14-28 with 9 RBI.
- Cabrera has averaged 33 HRs in his 8 full seasons, but he’s a hitter, not a slugger. One way to tell is by what he’s done in his longest homerless streaks. This is the 7th time since joining Detroit in 2008 that he’s gone 13+ games without a HR. Those streaks add up to 97 games, with a .308 BA and .414 OBP, more walks than whiffs (62-52), and 30% of his hits going for doubles.
- A.J. Pierzynski is the first catcher since 2010 (Joe Mauer) to have 5+ hits with a hit in every trip. A.J. also did it in 2006.
@Cardinals 7, Cubs 6: Matt Holliday‘s 3rd hit set up Yadier Molina to flip the Cards’ first 4-game losing streak, boosting their record to 21-15.
- St. Louis has a 25-11 Pythagorean record, based on 198 runs scored and 134 runs allowed. They’re 10-3 in blowouts (margin of 5+ runs), but 2-5 in one-run games.
- Molina had the 4th game-ending hit of his career (all singles) and his 1st since 2007. No big deal in those numbers, yet I think he might be that rare bird, the true clutch hitter.
- 18 RBI in 12 games for Allen Craig.
- Here’s something you haven’t seen this year: A home run by Alfonso Soriano leading off the 9th. It tied the game and snapped a 30-game drought, the longest since his rookie year.
