The Colby Lewis that had dominated in the playoffs the last few years has been mostly missing so far this season. Not like he’s been bad, he hasn’t, but that lights out version has been missing. Apparently, we found him, as he turned in another stellar outing this game (as well as the one before). This is a good thing given the recent turmoil in the starting rotation in the last couple of weeks.
For starters, it was a complete game performance. The second in as many outings for Colby. Look at his line. 9IP, 105 pitches, 4H, 1R, 1BB, 7K. It was pretty darned dominant. 105 pitches for a 9 inning complete game is spectacular. That’s 11.6 pitches per inning on average! The Diamondbacks had just four hits total. Two singles, a double, and a solo home run. The home run came late, in the 8th inning. There’s not a lot to say other than “damn good pitching performance”. Gotta love that. Hope he can rattle off about 7 or 8 such performances in a row. Perhaps not complete games every time, but that kind of performance, even short of a complete game is most MOST welcome.
The D’Backs didn’t fear nearly as well, as the Rangers teed off on them. Especially their starter, Ian Kennedy. He didn’t get out of the sixth (bit surprised he was around that long). Threw 5.2 innings, allowed 10 hits, six runs, walked one and struck out four. Two of their three relievers allowed runs, too. In fact, this was one of those “everybody hits” games again. The entire Rangers starting lineup got hits. There were no subs, and everyone got in on the action. With 16 total hits, there’s plenty to go around. There was one two run home run (Murphy), a triple (Elvis), four doubles, and a pile of singles. Kinsler & Murphy had three hits each to lead that stat department.
The offense was fun, don’t get me wrong, but I very much enjoyed seeing Colby Lewis (well, listen – no TV for this game) pitch as well as he did. Most MOST enjoyable, this one was.