10 Important Stories From 06/02/17 Box Scores: Kershaw and Nelson Rack Up The Strikeouts & More

by Simon Jones

In a season that has seemed to be defined by the three true outcomes of baseball, Friday seemed to take that to extremes, with a crazy night of strikeouts at Miller Park, yet more home runs and a pitcher walking three times.

So let’s look at some of the bigger stories from Friday’s games.

1) Kershaw Ks 14, Nelson 11 in strikefest….
It was an amazing night at Miller Park on Friday, and I could probably devote the entire column to it. The headline was that the Dodgers outlasted the Brewers 2-1 over twelve innings, but the underlying stats. Jimmy Nelson outduelled Clayton Kershaw with 8 scoreless innings striking out 11. Kershaw for good measure struck out 14 in 7 innings just giving up a solo home run, and reaching 2,000 career strikeouts in the process. In total there were 42 strikeouts – a NL record. The Dodgers combined for 26 Ks which was franchise record. Kenley Jansen struck out 5 across 2 innings for the win, in the process setting an all-time record for strikeouts without a walk to open the season – 39.

2) Donaldson hits two homers versus the Yankees….
It was a long wait for fantasy owners and Josh Donaldson’s calf injury seemed to drag on forever, but over the last week he has seemed intent on making up for lost time. Donaldson smacked a couple of solo homers at the Rogers Centre, marking his 11th multi-HR game, in the 7-5 win. Donaldson now has three home runs and a couple of doubles over the six games since his return.

3) Keuchel goes scoreless and moves to 9-0….
Dallas Keuchel had another superb outing on Friday against the Rangers, going six scoreless innings in a 7-1 win. Keuchel hasn’t missed a beat in the two starts since is DL, and now stands at 9-0 in 11 starts, with a 1.67 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. Keuchel is riding some fortune with a .222 BABIP and 88% LOB%, but he is limiting hard contact and has an impressive 67% GB%, so the underlying numbers to justify some of 2017’s bounceback.

4) Blach tosses first career shutout….
It was a night to remember for Ty Blach against the Phillies on Friday. The Giants 10-0 blowout win marked Blach’s first shutout, and indeed his first complete game. Blach struck out four without a walk and limited the Phillies to seven singles. He also contributed at the plate, walking three times – the first pitcher to do so since 2009. Blach has been one of the few bright spots for the Giants since stepping into the rotation after Madison Bumgarner’s injury. The southpaw now carries a 3.24 ERA and 1.11 WHIP and has gone 7+ innings in his last five starts.

5) Schwarber’s struggles continue….
It was another tough night for Kyle Schwarber, stikining out in is only two plate appearances against St Louis on Friday. He has already been dropped into the bottom third of the order and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth – something that would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago. His average has dropped to an awful .163, but he’s been unusable over the past 17 games hitting just 5-for-58. At this point, it has to be questionable on how many at bats the Cubs are going to give him.

6) Vintage Mauer logs four hits….
It has been a renaissance of sorts over the last few weeks for Joe Mauer. At the start of May, he was sitting on a .230 average which when coupled with next to no power by 1B standards, meant that he had fallen off most fantasy radars. Last night’s game was his second four hit effort this week, and he smacked a home run for good measure. Since May 5th he has batted .361/.442/.542 and has certainly become fantasy relevant again in deeper leagues. In shallower leagues though, it’s hard to start him when there have been so many cheap sources of power at first base this year.

7) Bour goes yard again….
Justin Bour’s incredible power surge continued against the Diamondbacks on Friday. Bour went deep off Patrick Corbin in the first inning, representing his 12th long ball in his last 21 games, tying him for the NL HR lead with 16 HRs in 2017. Interestingly, 2017 marks the first year that Bour has been remotely usable against lefties, hitting 1.227 OPS in 44 PAs, compared to .533 OPS in 30 PAs last year and 0.573 OPS in 75 PAs in 2015. Also 5 of his 16 HRs this year have come from southpaws.

8) Strasburg fans seven as Nats dominate Athletics….
Stephen Strasburg put up another quality start in Oakland on Friday as the Nationals overwhelmed the A’s 13-3. Strasburg looked sharp conceding two runs on four hits and three walks, whilst striking out seven. Strasburg lowered his ERA to 2.91 on the season. More encouraging still is the endurance that Strasburg is showing this season, going 7+ innings on all but three starts. The next outing matches him in a pitchers duel against Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday.

9) J.D. Martinez continues hot streak….
J.D Martinez continued to make up for lost time on Friday with a big night against the White Sox, going 3-for-5 and finishing a single short of the cycle. Since his delayed start to 2017, he has now slashed .297/.418/.797 with 9 HRs in only 64 ABs, and an excellent 18:14 K:BB rate.

10) Odorizzi torched by the Mariners….
The Mariners got to Jake Odorizzi early and often on Friday. The Rays pitcher wasn’t helped by a costly Brad Miller error in the first, and that seemed to knock him totally out of his stride as he conceded 8 runs in only 2 1/3 innings on 4 hits and 3 walks. Fortunately, he was only charged with 3 of those 8 runs due to that error, meaning that his ERA stands at a more than respectable 3.53 ERA on the season.

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