MLB Performances of the Week: Complete games and Soler power
Each Monday we will be bringing you MLB’s top hitting and pitching performances of the week. You can find them right here, every Monday for the remainder of the season and throughout the postseason. This week in MLB brought us quite a few well-pitched games including three amazingly pitched complete games from Madison Bumgarner, Scott Feldman and surprisingly, Clay Buchholz.
As you can imagine with so many great pitching performances there was only a single player to eclipse three RBI, the Cardinals Matt Holliday. However, rookie call up Jorge Soler of the Chicago Cubs came to impress and succeeded in taking the baseball world by storm. He hit a 3-run shot in his first big league at-bat on Wednesday. His Wednesday performance led to an even more impressive performance by Soler on Friday. So without further ado, here are your MLB pitching and hitting performances of the past week.
Pitching
1. Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies, August 26
W (16-9), 9.0 IP, 1H, 13K
Tuesday night at home against the Colorado Rockies San Francisco Giants’ pitcher Madison Bumgarner was just about perfect. The left-hander was perfect through a full seven innings before delivering the only hit of the game. With nobody out the Rockies’ Justin Morneau hit one of Bumgarner’s curve balls into deep right field for a double.
If he hadn’t left that one curveball up the 24-year old would have had the 24th perfect game in MLB history, as he was perfect again through the rest of the eighth and ninth innings. Giants manager Bruce Botchy said that Bumgarner was worthy of champagne for his 1-hitter in which he only 103 pitches to complete. Catcher Buster Posey assisted Bumgarner by providing not only help from behind the plate but also the Giants only offense as the Giants defeated the Rockies by a score of 3-0. Still the night definitely belonged to the young pitcher.
2. Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, August 31
W (6-8), 9.0IP, 3H, 6K
Clay Buchholz is a very talented pitcher if he can over come his inconsistency on the mound. Sunday was one of Buchholz’s good days, actually it was a very good day for the right-hander on the mound at Tropicana field as the Boston Red Sox took on the Tampa Bay Rays. It was arguably one of, if not the, best games of his career. This year inconsistency has allowed his ERA to inflate to a high 5.40 but that didn’t matter on Sunday, Buchholz was about as good as pitcher can probably be. Buchholz briefly discussed his inconsistency on the mound,
"“You don’t always go out there with four or five pitches working. Whenever you do you’ve got to make the best of it … It’s tough to go through that. But at the same time, two starts later you can go out and have your stuff back. You have to stay on an even keel.”"
Buchholz finished nine very solid innings using only 98 pitches, 69 of which were for strikes. He got ahead of batters by throwing first pitch strikes to 23 of the 29 batters he faced. He allowed just three hits, no runs and fanned six of the Rays’ batters. It was Buchholz second complete game shut out this season. The first game against the Houston Astros back on July 13. Buchholz struck out 12 in that game without allowing a walk and threw 109 pitches. It was the sixth complete game shutout of his career.
3. Scott Feldman, Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers, August 30
W (8-10), 9.0IP, 3H, 5K, 1BB
Scott Feldman held the Rangers to just three hits and one walk in nine innings on Saturday and secured the Astros the Silver Boot Trophy for the first time since 2006. The Silver Boot goes to the Texas team that wins the season series against the other. According to ESPNDallas’ Randy Jennings the Silver boot trophy does exist and this year it finally belongs to the Houston Astros.
Feldman threw a total of 115 pitches 77 of which were for strikes. His sinker ball was working like a charm against the Rangers’ lineup. The rest is going to a part of Houston Astros history for a long time to come.
Hitting
1. Jorge Soler, Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, August 29
3/3, 2HR, 3RBI, 2R
In his first MLB game Jorge Soler became the talk of the baseball community by hitting a three run home run in his very first big league at bat. That was Wednesday. His third big league game came Friday against the Cardinals. In that game he reached base four times and hit two more home runs bringing his total up to three home runs in just three Major league appearances.
The rookie has made the term “Soler Power” practically a household term in all die hard MLB fan’s homes. He has driven in six runs during this three game beginning to what looks to be a very promising career for the young power hitter.
2. Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs, August 30
2/3, 2HR, 5 RBI, 2R
Matt Holliday was the only player this week to eclipse three RBI. With so many fantastic pitching performances this is not surprising. Since Holliday was the only one to drive in more than three runs in a single game he makes this week’s list.
Holliday hit two home runs (see the video here) as the Cardinals won the second game of their double header against the Chicago Cubs, ending a four game skid. Holliday was definitely the hero of the game.
3. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants vs. Milwaukee Brewers, August 29
5/5, 3RBI, 3R
Posey going five for five is impressive on its own however Posey accomplished the feat in just six innings of work. Posey singled in the first, second, fourth and sixth innings. He also had a two-run triple in the fifth inning. Impressive enough for one game? Absolutely. That is only took him six innings to do it? Unbelievable.
This was just the second time that Posey has gone five for five in his career. The first time was last season against the Mets. I guess manager Bruce Bochy though five hits through six innings was enough as Posey came out of the game in the sixth inning. The Giants went on the rout the Brewers by a score of 13-2.