Last night Chris Tillman continued his career-long success against the teams of the American League West by pitching into the ninth inning in a 4-2 win over the Rangers. In throwing a season-high 117 pitches, the righthander held the Texas offense to two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out seven. He improved to 12-3 on the season, and helped the Orioles nail down a rare three-game road sweep in Arlington. There was some controversy over Tillman's selection to last week's All-Star Game as a replacement for Justin Verlander, as his earned run average (now 3.84) is not quite as gaudy as his run-support-boosted win total. But of all the members of Baltimore's vaunted young pitching cavalry of the recent past, only Tillman is left standing as a dependable starting pitcher at present. It was just two years ago that he averaged less than five innings per start in 13 tries with the O's, so I'll happily take the Chris Tillman of 2013.
I gave lip service to Chris' track record against the A. L. West, so here are the career splits: 11-1 in 13 starts, with an ERA of 2.05. That'll do nicely.
No comments:
Post a Comment