[ad_1]
This is a miniseries for the Cubs, who don’t care about your reverse ranking watch!
Not much to do with the bats tonight other than a two-out flurry in the third, culminating with Frank Schwindel’s home run.
Steele’s approach again seemed to skew the contact, heavy on the ballast. He knocked out a few hitters with the breakout material when he took the lead, but for the most part it really didn’t look like he was aiming for strikeouts. It was really fascinating to watch his outings this year, as he was looking to gain a foothold under him as a starting pitcher. The results were there tonight, efficiency was only average (especially when it seemed like he was aiming for efficiency), rides were still a problem… but the quality of contact was exceptional. A single batted ball had an expected batting average greater than 0.290, and only three were greater than 0.190. The Twins aren’t great, so that’s a caveat, but still – they’ve retained a handful of quality hitters. The kind of release you like to see right now from Steele as he develops.
Adbert Alzolay, fresh out of IL and transitioning to the bullpen to end the year, looked like dynamite. We know it can look that way in relief, so it wasn’t much of a surprise (the fast bike was in place, with great movement; the slider was still just as nasty; like half of its throws were called puffs or strikes). You want Alzolay to be successful as a starting pitcher for the Cubs next year. But it’s worth remembering that his floor as a multiple innings reliever is probably decently high.
Full score out of the box.
[ad_2]
Source link