Francisco Liriano is having a tough season. His strike-out rate has fallen, his control has been spotty, and his ERA is way up. The main bright spot early in the season was the no-hitter he pitched against the White Sox. Since then things have actually picked up some, capped off by his most recent start against the Rangers, where Liriano took a no-no into the 8th inning. It’s interesting to compare the one he finished with the one he didn’t:
9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 2 K
8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K
Despite the fact that if these two went head to head, the top line would win, I think it’s more than fair to say that Liriano actually pitched better yesterday. In the latter game, Liriano allowed fewer baserunners (2 to 6) – and the two he did allow were both singles. The only reason he gave up a run was that the singles were strung together, and there was a wild pitch in between.
Plus, Liriano actually made it much less likely that the opposition would get a hit in the second game than in the first, by virtue of the huge edge in strike-outs (9 to 2). In his no-hitter, opponents put 22 balls in play. In his almost no-hitter, they only put 16 balls in play. That he was a bit more fortunate to have none of the 22 fall in for hits (not that 2 for 16 isn’t nice itself) doesn’t say a whole heck of a lot about how he was pitching. More on comparing the two starts using game scores at The Book Blog.
In any case, I’m sure the Twins were just happy for the win, and they have to be hoping that the Francisco Liriano they’ve seen over the last month (1.38 ERA, 10 K/9, 2.8 BB/9) sticks around for the rest of the season.
