Game 106 – First Pitch Breakdown

A.J. was dealing today and this time there was no 9 hitter taking him deep as he won the rematch against Shields. Burnett only gave up 1 run and it was unearned (although it was his own error) in 7 innings. He did walk 4 batters though but he also struck out 10 (in fact his 1st 5 outs all came via the strikeout). Given the high walks and strikeouts it is amazing he only threw 110 pitches to get through 7 innings.

Of the 6 hits the Rays got off Burnett 4 of them were on first pitches. They clearly had the idea to jump on those first pitch fastballs. Only twice did they put the 1st pitch into play and not get a hit. Of course there were 5 others who swung at the 1st pitch and either swung and missed or fouled it off. There were only 6 Rays who took a 1st pitch strike. To complete the 1st pitch results Burnett threw 14 1st pitch balls out of the 31 hitters he faced.

Shields had a good start but it was a costly 2-run HR he gave up to Stairs in the 5th on what else, a 1st pitch. The Jays only got 5 hits off Shields but they made them count as Stairs HR drove in Barajas who was on base from a 1B. Then in the 8th Wilkerson and Inglett hit back-to-back 3B’s to give a little insurance to Ryan for the 9th.

Ryan did not actually need the insurance run as he retired the Rays 1-2-3 in the 9th. Before him Downs once again did his job going 1-2-3 in the 8th.

I thought the Rays may have elected to intentionally walk Inglett in the 8th. Inglett isn’t the typical player you walk but you had a RH hitting Scutaro on deck and I’d much rather face him.

The Jays went just 1 for 5 w/RISP, but the Rays were even worse as they went 0 for 10.

Rolen is really struggling right now as he is 0 for his last 15.

Here are the stats:
NAdv: Crawford, Longoria
P-NAdv: Burnett 2 (15)
WG: Longoria, Bartlett, Overbay (7)