MLB on Sling TV: Padres at Reds on FS1; Astros at Royals, Mets at Braves, or Dodgers at Pirates on FOX
San Diego Padres (Pomeranz 6-7, 3.00) at Cincinnati Reds (Finnegan 3-5, 3.81) 4:10pm ET on FS1
After three seasons as a long reliever/spot starter, Drew Pomeranz is back to starting full time and making the most of it. His strikeout rate has jumped from 8.6/9IP last year to 10.7, and his hits have fallen from 7.4 to 6.3, enough to offset the spike in walks from 3.2 to 4.2. Stir in a 23-point drop in his BABIP, and you’ve got a man who’s enjoying himself, despite run support .7 below the league average. The party may be wrapping up, however, as over his last three starts, Pomeranza has posted 16 IP, 20 H, 11 R, 7 BB, 19 SO, 4 HR.
Brandon Finnegan was part of the trade that sent Johnny Cueto from the Reds to the Royals last summer, helping KC win a World Series title. In September, the Reds decided to see if he had what it takes to be a starter, and gave him four starts down the stretch, during which he showed them enough to earn a spot in this year’s rotation. His strikeout and walk rates have moved in the wrong direction, leaving him with an anemic SO/BB rate of 1.44, but by the grace of an unusually low BABIP of .254, and a little pixie dust, he’s managed to keep his ERA down, despite a FIP of 4.95. His on a nice run currently, one that dates back to an 8-inning, 1-run outing against the Dodgers on May 23, as over 6 starts he’s gone 38 ⅔ innings with an ERA of just 3.03, but his SO//BB has been even worse, just 1.17.
Houston Astros (Fiers 5-3, 4.42) at Kansas City Royals (Young 2-6, 5.61) or New York Mets (deGrom 3-4, 2.96) at Atlanta Braves (Teheran 3-7, 2.66) or Los Angeles Dodgers (Maeda 6-4, 2.64) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Locke 6-5, 5.44) 7:15pm ET on FOX
Here’s the action from the FOX Sports Regional Networks across the land:
Minnesota Twins (Santana 2-7, 4.83) at New York Yankees (Eovaldi 6-4, 5.02) 1:05pm ET on FOX Sports North
Tampa Bay Rays (Andriese 6-0, 2.61) at Baltimore Orioles (Gausman 0-5, 4.37) 1:05pm ET on Fox Sports Sun
Tampa Bay Rays (Odorizzi 3-3, 3.63) at Baltimore Orioles (Tillman 10-1, 3.11) 7:05pm ET on Fox Sports Sun
Arizona Diamondbacks (Miller 2-6, 6.36) at Colorado Rockies (De La Rosa 4-4, 7.17) 4:10pm ET on FOX Sports Arizona
Chicago Cubs (Lackey 7-3, 2.78) at Miami Marlins (Clemens 0-0, 5.40) 4:10pm ET on FOX Sports Florida
Cleveland Indians (Carrasco 2-2, 3.26) at Detroit Tigers (Sanchez 4-7, 5.97) 4:10pm ET on FOX Sports Detroit & SportsTime Ohio
Washington Nationals (Gonzalez 3-6, 4.25) at Milwaukee Brewers (Garza 0-0, 0.90) 4:10pm ET on FOX Sports Wisconsin
Boston Red Sox (Wright 8-4, 2.01) at Texas Rangers (Griffin 3-0, 2.94) 9:20pm ET on FOX Sports Southwest
Oakland Athletics (TBD) at Los Angeles Angels (Chacin 3-5, 5.50) 10:05pm ET on FOX Sports West
St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 5-4, 4.00) at Seattle Mariners (Karns 5-2, 4.38) 10:10pm ET on FOX Sports Midwest
All stats courtesy of ESPN and Baseball Reference