If you had Jhoulys Chacin down on your bingo card as the first Angels pitcher to throw a complete game this season, you are a time traveler who is severely wasting his/her time machine. Seriously, why are you playing Angels bingo? Anyway, Chacin was brilliant Monday night, needing just 114 pitches to get 27 outs (10 by strikeout) against a normally potent Tigers offense. His one walk was intentional.
The nine-inning gem was Chacin’s first since April 15, 2011, more than 90 MLB starts ago. At this rate he’ll throw his next nine-inning complete game as a 34-year-old in 2021, playing for the expansion Havana Sugar Kings. Can’t wait.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1W4TdANwZI3NsSJJYdC3L1PW2hRiFRcNNZWhRc0-so0s/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]The Angels looked lost at the plate for most of the night without Yunel Escobar atop the lineup, but came to life in the eighth. Consecutive singles from Johnny Giavotella, Rafael Ortega, and Cliff Pennington gave the team the lead (and quadrupled their hit total), then two more from Albert Pujols and C.J. Cron put the game away. Gregorio Petit didn’t get a hit in the boxscore, but gets some RE24 love for his hot shot to short that led to an error and two runs scored.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1W4TdANwZI3NsSJJYdC3L1PW2hRiFRcNNZWhRc0-so0s/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]The Tigers got runners in scoring position in the sixth, seventh, and the ninth, but it wasn’t until the game was out of reach that they could get anyone across the plate. J.D. Martinez had the lone extra-base hit on the night (for either team).
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1W4TdANwZI3NsSJJYdC3L1PW2hRiFRcNNZWhRc0-so0s/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Chacin and Justin Verlander had dueling perfect games going until the fifth and dueling shutouts going until the eighth. If you ran 1,000 simulations of this matchup, the number of times that Verlander would be the one to break first could probably be counted on one hand.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1W4TdANwZI3NsSJJYdC3L1PW2hRiFRcNNZWhRc0-so0s/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]For the first time all season, the Angels bullpen never stirred.
Buck Farmer was brought in by Detroit to hold the deficit at three and gave up two RBI singles. Gotta love that Tigers bullpen.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1W4TdANwZI3NsSJJYdC3L1PW2hRiFRcNNZWhRc0-so0s/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]Maybe the longest an Angels game has gone scoreless all year? Sure feels like it.
Halo Hero
How in the world did the Angels get this guy for just a mediocre low-minors reliever? Points to Eppler.
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