It's been difficult to reconcile Galarraga's numbers with how he's pitched against the Indians. There's nothing eye-popping about his ratios; in fact, they aren't all that different than the numbers Mitch Talbot has put up. But, for whatever reason, be it a lineup uniquely disposed to flail at his stuff or the Indians' uniforms calming his psyche, he's been the incarnation of Greg Maddux in his two starts against the Indians this season. But not tonight.
Even though he didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, Galarraga didn't have the same polish as his previous two starts. He walked three batters in those first four innings, and the Indians were making some loud outs. So the Indians didn't really figure him out in that fifth inning, it was pretty much inevitable that the hits would start to fall in. Or, in this case, fly out. Matt LaPorta started things off with a shot that cleared the wall in center field. Luke Carlin* followed with a home run to right for his first homer of the season. Now the spell was broken, and the base runners started to come in earnest. Michael Brantley doubled to the right field gap. Shin-Soo Choo walked, bringing Detroit's pitching coach to the mound for a visit. In retrospect, Jim Leyland should have been the one to come out, for Travis Hafner, the next batter, jumped on a nothing fastball and crushed a three-run homer into the right seats. The Indians now had a 5-2 lead, and Galarraga was done.
Carlos Carrasco didn't really pitch any better than Galarraga, but his saving grace was that he didn't give up any home runs. He allowed a single in the first, two singles in the second (no runs), a single, double and walk in the third (one run), four singles in the fourth (one run, since Alex Avila was caught stealing), and a single and a double in the sixth (one run). All told, he allowed 11 hits and a walk, striking out five. But he fit all those things into six innings and just under a hundred pitches, and in today's parlance that's a quality start. But not really.
Smith, Sipp, and Chris Perez finished the game, pitching a scoreless inning apiece.
*Carlin, who played with San Diego and Arizona previously, had spent most of the season with Pittsburgh's AAA affiliate before coming over to Columbus for the playoff run.
Highest WPA |
Lowest WPA |
||
Travis Hafner |
.293 |
Jayson Nix |
-.080 |
Luke Carlin |
.139 |
Trevor Crowe |
-.053 |
Joe Smith |
.072 |
Luis Valbuena |
-.050 |