Another day, another Indians starter. Corey Kluber turned in a solid outing last night, striking out nine hitters over seven innings. He did allow four runs, but came out with a respectable game. Tonight, the Indians will walk Carlos Carrasco to the hill and Carrasco has been a strikeout machine this month. Over his last six starts, he’s racked up 56 strikeouts in just 40 innings while pitching to a 2.93 ERA. That’s a 12.6 K/9, which is best on this slate (by far). Another volatile matchup with Houston who is a great offense, but strikeout at one of the highest rates in the league.
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I’ll keep doing this “Rookie Du Jour” feature each day just to make you aware of some guys who may be roster-able down the stretch. Today it’s Brock Stewart who has made three starts for the Dodgers this season, but only one in the last 30 days. That recent start was last week against the mighty Cubs who Stewart impressed with eight K’s and only two hits over five innings. My concern with Stewart is the pitch count and how deep he can actually go into a game, but his strikeout ability is unquestioned. He racked up 9.8 K/9 in AA and 9.5 K/9 in AAA this season before being called up. He actually started the season a advanced A ball, so this has been a rapid rise to the Majors.
The pitching target today is Doug Fister of the Astros. His 6.23 ERA over the last 30 days is worst on this slate and opponents are hitting .318 off him. His lack of strikeouts make it difficult for him to escape a jam, only striking out 15 batters in those 26 innings. Now he has to travel to the hitter-friendly Progressive Field and battle one of the best home offenses in the league. That’s going to be a tall task for any pitcher, let alone a guy in a major struggle right now.
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