His fingers coated in Spider Tack or not, Gerrit Cole’s one of baseball’s best pitchers. The thought that his performance would suddenly crater upon MLB deciding to enforce its foreign substance ban was always absurd. Cole’s 2.71 ERA and 12.8 K/9 over 102 starts since the beginning of 2018 wasn’t a product of spin rate alone. It was velocity, location, command.
Marcus Semien hit his sixth home run in as many games, Alejandro Kirk kept demanding more playing time with two bombs in his second consecutive multi-hit effort, and a team many were shovelling dirt onto just 10 days ago sustained an astonishing run up the American League wild card standings. Meanwhile, Matz — acquired for three edge-of-the-roster players in an unsung, late-January trade — has been a revelation. The left-hander, and, after a six-inning, one-run effort against a powerful, right-handed heavy Yankees lineup on Tuesday, has kept the good times rolling through Labour Day. Over his last seven starts, Matz boasts a 1.92 ERA with 31 strikeouts over 38.2 innings.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with an unconventional approach, particularly if it’s founded in sound logic. But there isn’t evidence to suggest batting order position has a meaningful impact on performance. Good hitters are good hitters, regardless of when they make their first trip to the plate.
But just as quickly as New York tied it, Toronto retook the lead. Teoscar Hernandez singled on the first pitch Cole threw in the fourth. And Kirk reached with a grounder that kicked off LeMahieu’s glove on the next, moving Hernandez to third. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. needed only to lift a fly ball to deep centre to cash Hernandez, trading an out for a run and a fresh lead.
ArdenZwelling TD_Canada What a team ! Vladimir : MVP ! MVP !
ArdenZwelling TD_Canada Who cares about Blue Jays