While home runs were the story over in the American League on Friday, starting pitching commanded plenty of attention in the two National League Division Series contests.
Here’s a closer look with some takeaways from those games.
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ATLANTA BRAVES 3 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS 0
(NLDS tied 1-1)
Folty outduels Flaherty
On paper, the starting pitcher matchup heavily favoured the Cardinals, who sent ace Jack Flaherty to the mound. Of course, in October, we all know that on paper rarely matters. Flaherty was dominant for much of his seven-inning outing, yet was simply outpitched by Mike Foltynewicz.
And what a story the Braves starter has been. Coming off a 2018 that saw him receive Cy Young votes, Foltynewicz missed most of spring training because of a bone spur in his right elbow. He then struggled mightily in his first 11 starts of 2019 before being sent to triple-A. The 27-year-old refined his slider and smoothed out his fastball command on the farm and has been a different pitcher since his recall in August, to the tune of a 2.65 ERA over his final 10 starts (57.2 innings).
He continued his hot run on Friday, allowing just three hits over seven shutout innings, striking out seven and walking none. He joined rarified air with the start, becoming the first Braves hurler since Tom Glavine in 2001 to toss at least seven scoreless innings in a post-season game.
Foltynewicz leaned heavily on his improved slider, which induced 10 of his 13 swinging strikes.
Folty, Nasty 84mph Slider. pic.twitter.com/I9lCLryeSa
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 4, 2019
Flaherty, for his part, held his own over seven strong frames, but suffered a back-breaker in the seventh inning …
Redemption songs
About that back-breaker. It was quite literal. When Braves pinch-hitter Adam Duvall launched a two-strike, two-out, two-run homer over the centre-field wall, Flaherty could be seen crouched over as he watched the ball travel. The drive pushed the Braves’ lead to 3-0 and while that’s certainly not insurmountable, it carried extra weight given how the Cards were swinging in Game 2.
Duvall was pinch-hitting for Foltynewicz and the move by manager Brian Snitker was initially booed by Atlanta fans who were upset that the starter was being removed from the game. However, the faithful was quickly appeased by another redemption story, of sorts. Duvall, a former all-star, was relegated to triple-A for most of this season, managing to tally just 130 big-league plate appearances for the Braves, including 38 in September when he mostly came off the bench.
We are Duvall witnesses #RELENTLESS pic.twitter.com/yKLkn3SUFy
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 4, 2019
What was that about on paper again?
“It meant a lot,” Duvall said following the game. “It’s been an up and down season.”
And while we’re on the topic of atoning for struggles, Braves closer Mark Melancon locked down the ninth inning on Friday, one day after he was tagged with a blown save and, ultimately, a loss, having allowed four runs on five hits.
The best-of-five series is now tied at one game apiece as it shifts to St. Louis. Canadian righty Mike Soroka is set to start Game 3 for the Braves on Sunday against Adam Wainwright.
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WASHINGTON NATIONALS 4 LOS ANGELES DODGERS 2
(NLDS tied 1-1)
Playoff Kershaw
Much has been made about Clayton Kershaw’s post-season struggles over the years. The discourse has followed him since the early days of his career and probably won’t cease until he wins a World Series. Fair or not — and he’s had some dominant October outings in the past — it’s hard to hide his 4.32 ERA across 152 post-season innings entering Friday, especially considering his 2.44 career ERA leads all active players.
The chatter was alive in many corners during Game 2 when Kershaw got off to a rough start against the Nationals. He allowed seven of the first 12 batters he faced to reach base, resulting in a 3-0 lead for Washington.
To his credit, Kershaw settled down considerably after that, holding the Nats to just two hits over his next four innings. It certainly won’t silence his critics, though. If this series goes to five games, Kershaw may get another crack at the Nationals.
Playoff Strasburg
There were no foul whispers about Kershaw’s counterpart. Stephen Strasburg was phenomenal as he carried a perfect game into the fifth inning. That was broken up by Dodgers rookie Will Smith, who dumped a single into centre field, but the Nationals right-hander struck out the next batter to end the inning.
The Dodgers finally got to him in the sixth, stringing together two hits followed by a sacrifice fly from Justin Turner. The lone run was the only blemish in Strasburg’s outing, a six-inning, three-hit performance to go along with 10 strikeouts and no walks. His curveball looked obscene, breaking and diving all over the place. He used it 40 per cent of the time (34-for-85) and it generated nine of his 20 total swinging strikes. On the heels of Strasburg’s impressive performance in the NL Wild Card Game, he’s now allowed just two earned runs over 28 career innings in the playoffs.
The Nationals bullpen has been a source of concern for manager Dave Martinez and things looked hairy when he removed Strasburg after the sixth. Sean Doolittle allowed a homer to Max Muncy, cutting Washington’s lead to one run, but Max Scherzer — normally a starter — pitched a clean eighth inning and Daniel Hudson earned the save for the Nats, who tied the series at one game apiece.
Many sides of Soto
Get used to reading about Juan Soto on this website. The Nationals’ 20-year-old wunderkind is quickly becoming a household name within the sport. You remember his heroics with the bat during the wild card game. On Friday, he showed off a different facet to his game.
Soto is hailed for his offensive prowess. And rightfully so, as his plate discipline is elite and his 138 OPS+ ranks eighth in the National League. But he’s making significant strides with his defence, too.
Statcast uses a metric called Outs Above Average that takes into account the numbers of plays an outfielder makes, along with the difficulty of them. Last season, Soto ranked 182nd in MLB with a -6 Outs Above Average. This year, his 6 Outs Above Average landed him at the 19th spot in MLB.
It’s just another notch in the belt of a rapidly evolving superstar.