1. Career Night for Bauer
After picking up the win, Bauer is now 5-4 with a 6.00 ERA.
The biggest criticism of Bauer throughout his career has probably been his consistency, but on Tuesday he showed mastery on the mound.
Heading in to the evening, Bauer’s single game strikeout high for 2017 was nine, while his career high was 13. By the end of his seven innings of work, he had matched that number and then some, with 14 Ks for a new career high.
Bauer ended the night surrendering three runs on seven hits and giving up just one walk. His 14 strikeouts are also the highest single game total in the American League this season.
“He just was really aggressive. I think he really started feeling it,” manager Terry Francona said.
“He wasn’t just throwing, he was pitching, but he looked so strong.”
After the win, Bauer said that most of the A’s early hits were coming on balls, not strikes, which fueled his motivation. Perhaps most impressive was the fact that Bauer’s velocity actually improved as the game went on, (his last pitches clocked out in the high 90s) and Bauer offered a pretty simple explanation as to why.
“It’s just me being really, really, really pissed off,” he said.
It is just the eighth time in Bauer’s career that he has hit double digits in single-game strikeouts.
This was one of only two starts this year where Bauer didn’t surrender a home run. He also struck out the side four times, including three straight times from the fifth through the seventh innings.
Consistency problems can’t be fixed in one day, obviously, but if this Trevor Bauer is around more often than not for the remainder of the season, that will solve some of the bullpen issues the team is currently experiencing.
“I think we’re pitching how we’re capable of. I think we’ve pitched a lot better than the numbers say all year,” Bauer said.
“We’ve had some really bad luck go against us. So hopefully once that turns around, we’ll pitch how we know we’re capable of.”
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