Nick Tropeano picked a heck of a time to put together the best start of his young career. Entering Tuesday night, the right-hander had never gone more than six innings, struck out more than five, or allowed fewer than four hits in any of his six big-league starts. After Tuesday night, none of those things are still true. His 11 strikeouts in 6⅔ match the season-high for an Angels starter, and mark just the fourth time in franchise history that a rookie’s fanned 11 or more batters in a game.
Remarkably, the Angels now sit a ½ game up in the race for the second wild card with just five games to go, and a division title now almost seems more likely than missing the postseason altogether. What a crazy two weeks its been.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1r0Kn-DhHLQlIdRRw_8HGRDQwBtPOEGYoNt5Yc6mAbU4/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Have yourself a day, Erick Aybar. It’s been a down year at the plate for the shortstop, but it’s nothing a strong final week can’t fix. His three RBI Tuesday were his most in any game this season. Albert Pujols, David Freese, David Murphy, and Johnny Giavotella also had good nights, with each tallying at least two hits and an RBI.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1r0Kn-DhHLQlIdRRw_8HGRDQwBtPOEGYoNt5Yc6mAbU4/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]It was a bad night for the A’s offense. Only rookie first baseman and veteran Archie character Max Muncy did anything of note, mashing his third home run of the season. The team struck out 14 times on the night and walked just once.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1r0Kn-DhHLQlIdRRw_8HGRDQwBtPOEGYoNt5Yc6mAbU4/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]We’ve already covered Tropeano’s career night. Chris Bassitt was… uh… less good. He surrendered six runs on eight hits in just 3⅔.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1r0Kn-DhHLQlIdRRw_8HGRDQwBtPOEGYoNt5Yc6mAbU4/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]The Angels didn’t really need help from the bullpen Tuesday, but they were good anyways. Cam Bedrosian got his one out, then Mat Latos came on for the final two to save the arms of the legit bullpen guys.
The A’s bullpen went 4+ innings and didn’t strike out a single batter. It didn’t go well.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1r0Kn-DhHLQlIdRRw_8HGRDQwBtPOEGYoNt5Yc6mAbU4/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]Wins don’t get much easier than this one. The Angels had a 97% win probability after just the fourth inning.
Halo Hero
The Tropedo earns the game ball, for the first of hopefully many times.
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