Hector Santiago pitched the game of his Angels life on Monday, allowing just two hits and striking out 10 in seven scoreless innings of work. The southpaw was calculated and uncharacteristically efficient for the second straight start, never once topping even 18 pitches in an inning.
So much ink was spilled this spring about the potential for Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs, and/or Nick Tropeano to make strides this year and on the impending demise of Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson that Santiago managed to get lost in the fray. I don’t think anyone’s ready to yell “breakout!” from the mountaintops after three starts, but dang does he look good.
On the other end, I’m so thrilled about the team actually stringing together a bunch of hits and runs I’m just going to ignore that 12 of their 13 hits were singles, which screams “BABIP” far more than it does “breakout.” And I certainly won’t point out that none of the team’s eight hits with RISP came from the top four batters in the lineup, or that those same four went 2-for-18 on the day. Nope, not gonna mention it. Totally an offensive breakout. Mhmm.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hSBc-lOcVC-QYMIqXR4oVxEiBV9IItQDMb5iqMUXTRk/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Kole Calhoun, Andrelton Simmons, Geovany Soto, and C.J. Cron all had multi-hit games—combining for 10 of the team’s 13 on the evening—and were the driving forces behind Carlos Rodon‘s very early shower. It was especially nice to see Cron put the ball in play and notch his first two RBI of the season. Now if he could just get some lift on the ball, maybe Scioscia can stop batting his 1B/DH in the eight spot. Simmons’ hit streak is now up to 11 games.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hSBc-lOcVC-QYMIqXR4oVxEiBV9IItQDMb5iqMUXTRk/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Adam Eaton and Jimmy Rollins both doubled. Jose Abreu singled. That was it for the ChiSox.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hSBc-lOcVC-QYMIqXR4oVxEiBV9IItQDMb5iqMUXTRk/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]It’s gonna be difficult to find two more diametrically opposed starts in a single game this season. Hector Santiago was brilliant, as noted above, while Carlos Rodon was… uhh… not. The big lefty faced nine batters Monday and retired just one. His day ended walk, walk, single, single, single, single, single. Rough.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hSBc-lOcVC-QYMIqXR4oVxEiBV9IItQDMb5iqMUXTRk/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]The White Sox relief corps gets credit for not letting the game get even more out of hand after Rodon’s quick exit. Five guys combined to hold the Halos offense to two runs on seven hits over 8⅓. Not too shabby. Zach Putnam was especially good, blanking the Halos for three innings.
The Angels didn’t need much ‘pen help, thankfully, but got a scoreless innings from Greg Mahle and Mike Morin anyway.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hSBc-lOcVC-QYMIqXR4oVxEiBV9IItQDMb5iqMUXTRk/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]This one was over pretty much immediately.
Halo Hero
Keep up the good work, Hector. The rotation needs it.
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