The Pitchers’ Duel That Wasn’t

Jul 5, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher

(17) pitches against the Philadelphia Phillies during the second inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

When two starting pitchers throw up zeros in the run column and big numbers in the strikeout column it’s a pitchers duel. Both of those things happened today but this was not a pitchers duel.

When Is a Pitchers Duel Not a Not a Pitchers Duel?

A quick glance at the line for both starters today would suggest this was a nail biter.  I love pitching duels, seeing two good lineups face two pitchers on their game is a thrill.  This game was the opposite of that, most of the time it was a bore.

It’s true that Shelby Miller earned his paycheck with his  6 1/3 inning,  eight strikeout, two walk shutout performance but it wasn’t as dominating as it sounds.  He also allowed seven hits and paired with those two walks and he was in trouble as much as he was out of trouble.

On two occasions his ability to strike hitters out saved the day.  The Phillies helped him more than once however the most egregious of these came when  Odebul Herrera got caught in no man’s land by A.J. Pierzynski and ran his team out of an inning. Meanwhile Cole Hamels was being Hamels like.

On the day Hamels went seven scoreless innings allowing six hits and striking out six but the Braves helped him out as well. In the first Cameron Maybin singled and after Nick Markakis popped up on the infield for the second out Hamels hit Chris Johnson.

Pierzynski followed with a single to shallow right  and Maybin had to do some fancy gymnastics to avoid being caught off third base. Pedro Ciriaco hit a lazy fly ball to center leaving the bases loaded when the inning ended.

Jonny Gomes started the braves second with a single but Carlos Ruiz caught him wandering too far off first and picked him off.

Jace Peterson singled to start the third but Maybin hit in to a double play.

In the fourth Pierzynski doubled but was still at second when the inning ended

In the sixth Chris Johnson singled and started to steal when Hamels stopped in mid-delivery and threw to first. The balk wasn’t called but somehow made it to second but that was as far as he got.

The Braves made no more noise until the bottom of the ninth. After Markakis was an easy out on a groundball to short, Kelly Johnson pinch hit for Chris Johnson and walked. A.J. followed that up with a single sending Kelly third with one out.  At that point the Phillies brought in one of their outfielders to plug up the infield so a ground ball couldn’t get through.

Ciriaco hit a soft popup to short center and pinch hitter Juan Uribe struck out on three pitches leaving runners on the corners. That was the extent of the Braves offense – and I use that term lightly – today.

Next: Bad Bullpen Blue?