Again, and Again, and Again

Game 21, April 27, Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Bats: 6
Bulls: 2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Relief crew lets another get away.

Transactions —

• Kyle McPherson to extended spring training. Not sure what that means.
• Justin Marks, left-handed relief pitcher assigned from the Charlotte Stone Crabs. Stats.

Game 22, April 28
Bats: 8
Bulls: 3
Season: 10-12; Home Stand: 1-4
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

How much more could go wrong? Rain delays game forever; pitcher Matt Andriese gets called for two balks; manager gets tossed; new guy doesn’t pitch very well, but isn’t helped by the three unearned runs; and the “closer” lets an inherited runner in and gives up a home run. The back-to-back home runs by Taylor Motter and Richie Shaffer in the 4th were fun, though.

The Bulls new pitcher, and sole left-handed reliever, Justin Marks, made his first appearance.

Pitching Chart

The Bulls are still just 22 games (193 innings) into the season. Nevertheless, the ERA trends are disturbing. Added to that are the ugly defensive numbers: 15 unearned runs and worst-in-the-league 23 errors.

click for larger image

Standings

Bulls slide below .500. Gwinnett moves back up into first place.

Turn the Page

Game 20, April 26, Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Indianapolis Indians: 9
Durham Bulls: 0
Season: 10-10; Home Stand: 1-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

“Just turn the page and move on,” said Kyle McPherson, as quoted in the Herald-Sun. That’s good advice from someone who gave up 7 runs on 6 hits (4 homers and a BB) in 1/3 of an inning.

But up to that point the hitters had not been doing all that well, either. In fact, this was the worst hitting performance of the year.

Too bad, because Mayo Acosta’s brilliant defense was keeping the Bulls in the game until the 9th. He was credited with 4 “caught stealings” and the Bulls were only two runs behind. Then came the 7 run shelling of McPherson that was ended by first baseman Cameron Seitzer taking the mound for the last two outs.

Outside the game —

• Pretty nifty video starring in Mikie Mahtook.
• Commentary on the value of some of the Bulls key players — “expendable”

Promising Pitcher; Pants!

Game 4, April 10,  Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Charlotte Knights: 4

Durham Bulls: 6

Season: 3-1; Home Stand: 3-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

In his first Triple A start Austin Pruitt was spectacular — the longest and best outing of any starting pitcher this year. Kyle McPherson, who followed him, not so much.

In the top of the 4th RF Jaff Decker crashed into 2B Daniel Robertson not too long after hitting his home run in the bottom of the 3rd. Dayron Varona took his place and hit a double and a homer (3 RBI). Now that’s depth in right field.

What’s really different about the Durham Bulls this year? Trousers.

OK, it took me a while to notice, but I’m guessing youth (as in managerial youth) finally won out. Yesterday most of the Bulls were in long pants. In all previous years the only players in long pants were re-habbing major leaguers. Pitcher Austin Pruitt and 1B Richie Shaffer were holdouts in knee breeches.

First Look: Pitchers

RHP Austin Pruitt: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 11 K’s, Game Score - 73
For his AAA debut Pruitt had a career high number of strikeouts, a solid 6 inning start, and a win. He spent last year in Montgomery, pitching 160 innings and recording 122 K’s. He looks to be a very solid asset. Stats.
RHP Kyle McPherson: ⅔ innings, 2 hits, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 2 K’s
McPherson was simply awful in his short outing. He has been playing pro ball for parts of 9 seasons, although the last time he put in a lot of innings was in 2011 in the Pittsburgh system. He’s coming back from surgery and spent 2015 in the Rays system. The Rays are good at spotting pitching talent, so we hope that this game is an anomaly.  Stats.

Outside the game —

• Set your recorders for PBS’s documentary on Jackie Robinson. Starts tonight on WUNC. 

Bulls hitting against Charlotte was pretty darn good. Here’s the team OPS for each game compared with a three-year International League average, and this year’s running IL average. [Update: I forgot to add that the current season OPS of .840 leads the IL]