It was the best of starting pitchers, it was the worst of starting pitchers in the game on Sunday. Matt Shoemaker, making his return to MLB action after having been derailed by a forearm strain, was hit hard and hit often. The Twins’ starting pitcher, Tyler Duffey, who made his MLB debut this August filling in for Phil Hughes’s trip to the DL, pitched seven innings of three-hit ball. David Murphy explained after the game, “Any time an offense is seeing a pitcher for the first time, the pitcher definitely has the advantage.” The Halos now sit two and a half games out of the second wildcard slot with just thirteen grains of sand left in the hourglass of the 2015 regular season.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v3610GedYH5sk_SFa-s9J4tMzzTDk28nfQzwxeIOn3I/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”429″ /]CJ Cron and Erick Aybar got on base twice, but Angel at bats in this game often looked foolish as Duffey had halo hitters swinging over the top of his slurve. Kole Calhoun struggled the most, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. The Angels now have the worst on-base percentage (.304) in the league. The one high note, however, was a pinch-hit home run by six-foot-four catcher Jett Bandy off of All-Star reliever Glen Perkins for his first Major League hit.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v3610GedYH5sk_SFa-s9J4tMzzTDk28nfQzwxeIOn3I/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]The Twin hitters pretty much had their way with Angel pitching in Sunday. They hit three home runs, had 12 hits, and drew six walks. Torii Hunter got the party started with a home run in the second inning. Hunter went 7-for-17 in this series against the Angels, with two home runs and four RBI.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v3610GedYH5sk_SFa-s9J4tMzzTDk28nfQzwxeIOn3I/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]It got so bad for Shoemaker that broadcaster Mark Gubicza was looking for what Shoe was doing to tip off Twin batters as to what pitch was coming. Scioscia removed him in the fourth inning after he gave up his fourth earned run of the game. If these two teams meet up one last time this year in the wildcard game, Paul Molitor would do well to give Duffey the start. In seven innings this game, the Angels couldn’t even get a runner to second base against him.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1v3610GedYH5sk_SFa-s9J4tMzzTDk28nfQzwxeIOn3I/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]There was no need for the bullpens to battle on Sunday as the game was over by the time the starting pitchers left the game. At any rate, the Angel bullpen was terrible in this game, giving up six hits and four walks in 4.1 innings for a 2.31 WHIP. Cam Bedrosian and Wesley Wright especially stunk it up.
Game Flow
With the starting pitchers performing like they did, it didn’t take long for the Angels’ win expectancy to flatline.
Halo Scapegoat
Sorry Don Baylor, but no matter how poorly Matt Shoemaker pitched, you can’t win games if you don’t score runs. The Angels have the league’s worst OBP and second worst SLG (.388), and it bit them in the butt in this game.
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