Mike got the win against the Cincinnati Reds in a well pitched ball game. He went 6 innings and gave up one run after back to back doubles in the top of the 6th. He looked very strong with super control. Great job Mike!
Except for the gopher ball he gave up in the first he looked pretty good again. 1 walk against 8 Ks. Threw a little tighter breaking ball in a few key counts yesterday too. That's a pitch I haven't seen him throw a lot. He's got a bigger curveball that he has trouble commanding sometimes, but yesterday on 2 or 3 occasions he slipped in a little humpback just to give the hitters a different look. I think that third pitch will be key to his ultimate development.
Wacha was on cruise control again today until his manager and fielders let him down in the 4th.
Matheny over employs the stupid shift giving up bunt singles into the empty left side of the infield. Then Wacha catches too much of the plate and gives up a line drive HR to left. After that he has a dropped foul ball, an error, another single... ultimately strikes out the side in the 4th but takes him 26 pitches to complete the inning (he had 41 through the first 3).
Wacha also has a run scored and 2 RBIs on a single in the 2nd.
Wacha comes back to work a quick, easy 5th. Still has a 4-2 lead.
I'm probably going to try to go tomorrow. My sister is graduating this weekend (the reason for the trip to STL), so I'll need to try to work around that