10 Important Stories From 05/24/17 Box Scores: Healy Picking Up Pace, Conforto Continues To Sizzle & More

by Ray Kuhn

While Tuesday was Clayton Kershaw day, and the ace didn’t disappoint, there were also other “ace” worthy pitching performances. In fact, with a full slate of action across baseball last night, it would be troubling if there wasn’t, but it also wouldn’t be entirely surprising based on how this season has gone. Let’s take a look at some of the better performances we saw from an exciting Tuesday night around the league:

1) Power Starts at the Top…

Despite the power he has been showing, the Mets simply can’t move Michael Conforto out of the lead-off spot. He is just too good atop the order. The only complaint one can have, is that he is potentially leaving RBI’s on the table with all of his first inning home runs. However, I have never truly see anyone complain about a long ball. Conforto got the night started for the Mets with a 10 pitch at bat before hitting his first home run of the night, he added another solo shot in the fourth inning, and he then closed out the first inning with a two RBI single. The outfielder is now up to 14 home runs and 31 RBI on the season, and he is hitting .333 with a 1.138 OPS. Those are All-Star worthy numbers. While we can expect to see the batting average dip more to the .290/,300 range (he has a .370 BABIP), Conforto does a swing that works and he is seeing 4.25 pitches per plate appearance.

2) There is Some Power Outside of Coors…

Sometimes themes just happen, and this is one of those times. Despite being on the road, Charlie Blackmon matched Conforto’s efforts with two home runs out of the lead-off spot. The difference though, is that Blackmon’s came in the third and the fourth inning, and a runner was on base each time. Blackmon does an even better job at proving that batting lead-off doesn’t hinder your RBI production, as after last night’s efforts, he is up to 40 on the season along with 11 home runs while batting .325. We know that the stolen bases have been way down for Blackmon so far this season, but it’s difficult to argue with the rest of the production.

3) Two in a Row For Duffy…

After facing Danny Duffy five days ago, the Yankees didn’t exactly have an advantage when he took the mound against them last night. While they did get to the southpaw for two runs this time, he still picked up the victory with seven strong innings of work. It was the third straight start of seven innings for Duffy who scattered six hits and three walks while striking out seven. Both of the runs he allowed came on solo home runs (Aaron Hicks and Chris Carter) where the platoon advantage was in play. With a 2.92 ERA so far this season, Duffy looks to be right back to his dominating ways from last season as he has just two starts in which he allowed more than two runs. That came in consecutive starts at the end of April and beginning of May, and both were against the White Sox. If you take those starts away, Duffy looks even more attractive.

4) Santana Keeps on Going…

I was wrong about Ervin Santana for last night. While I’m confident he will continue to be a serviceable starter moving forward this season, I just didn’t have many expectations about his start in Camden Yards against the Orioles. Instead, all Santana did was pick up his second complete game of the season while improving to 7-2 overall. Santana held the Orioles to just two hits and two walks while striking out six and lowering his ERA to 1.80. However, his 4.10 FIP and 4.74 xFIP do give me something to think about moving forward about whether to buy or sell the right-hander.

5) A Complete Effort in Chicago…

On Tuesday, Jon Lester finished what he started against a reeling San Francisco team. Lester didn’t need any help from his bullpen as he scattered four hits, allowing one run, while striking out 10 picking up just his third victory of the season. Despite it being just his third victory, Lester has generally pitched well this season (3.19 ERA) as he has held opposing hitters to a .242 batting average against which is line with past seasons. All three of Lester’s wins have come in May so far, and last night was a good sign as it was his first start of the season of more than seven innings. After Chicago’s World Series victory last season, a little hangover from Lester would be normal, but overall, he hasn’t disappointed so far this year.

6) Rendon Does it Again…

To make it into the article today, the stakes are high after some of the performances we saw Tuesday night. For hitters, it appears that the threshold is a two home run game. A few weeks after having a historic afternoon against the Mets, Anthony Rendon had another game that could lead to serious movement in the standings. Rendon picked up two hits on Tuesday, but no one cares about his eighth double of the season. The third baseman went deep twice, giving him seven home runs on the season, and drove in five runs raising his RBI total to 28. This might be as streaky as it gets as five home runs and 15 of Rendon’s RBI have come in just two games, but overall, it’s hard to argue with the production. And even though Danny Duffy someone made his way into the article with just seven innings of work, a complete game so far appears to be the standard. That means, Joe Ross is a mere a footnote after his eight innings of one run ball last night. The Nationals weren’t happy with what they saw out of Ross to start the season, so they sent him down to Triple-A for a reset. At least for one start, it was hard to argue with the results.

7) The Longball Was King in Cleveland…

You have to respect the Reds giving their young pitchers every chance to learn on the job in the major leagues and work through trouble, but at what point is it not fair? It’s not a good situation when your pitchers are over matched, and that was the case against the Indians for Amir Garrett. The southpaw gave up four home runs in five innings of work, and two of those were to Edwin Encarnacion. It has been a rough start to Encarnacion’s career in Cleveland, but he has shown some power (nine home runs after last night) while the run production has been lacking (20 RBI’s). The first baseman is still batting just .215 on the season, but you have no choice but to play the long game with Encarnacion. Cleveland’s other two home runs came from Francisco Lindor (his 10th) and Yan Gomes (his fourth).

8) Bogaerts Drives in Three…

While Xander Bogaerts didn’t go deep on Tuesday, we still should pay attention to his performance. While he is batting .329 on the season, it has been mostly empty production. The shortstop drove in three runs last night, but it brought his RBI total up to just 15 on the season, and he is still looking for his first home run. All is not lost for Bogaerts as he does have seven stolen bases, but you would expect more from a player with his talent batting third in Boston’s lineup. The shortstop did pick up his 10th double of the season on Tuesday, so he is still driving the ball, but we also shouldn’t expect to see the 21 home runs we saw last season from Bogaerts. So far this season, his fly ball rate has dropped from 34.9% to 21.7%, but he has seen a 9.5% increase to his line drive rate (now 55%). The shortstop is still a very good player, we just need to adjust out expectations; although a few more RBI would be nice.

9) Healy is Finding is Stroke…

The good thing about teams like Oakland, is that they can stick with players who get off to slow starts. A beneficiary of that appears to be Ryon Healy. After hitting .245 in April, Healy is hitting .280 so far in May, and following his two hit effort last night, he is up to .260 on the season. More importantly though, Healy went deep for the eighth time this season, a three run shot, which also brought his RBI total up to 19. These numbers still are not ideal, but Healy does have five home runs so far this month, and if he keeps up that pace, there is some value to be had.

10) Kershaw Dominates Again…

Because the Dodgers needed 13 innings to pull out the victory, Kershaw doesn’t get a complete game, and is left with a no decision, but how can you really quibble with the results. Despite his price on the DFS sites, it is truly difficult to not use Kershaw, as generally provides a legitimate advantage. Granted last night we had some other dominant pitching performances, but there is no one like Kershaw. In nine innings of work, he allowed one run on three hits while striking out 10. On the season, his ERA sits at just 2.01 as the southpaw is simply in a class by himself.

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