Locke looking more like ace every start
Jeff Locke, ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitching staff?
Well, it’s not as far-fetched as it may sound.
Locke raised his record to 6-1 on Friday night by giving up two hits in seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at PNC Park. Locke won his sixth straight decision and has not lost since his first start of the season on April 7 against the Dodgers at Los Angeles.
Locke is the last of the five pitchers who began the season in the Pirates’ rotation on the active roster. And with ace A.J. Burnett on the disabled list with a torn muscle in his right calf, the No. 1 spot is open.
However, Locke remembers that it wasn’t even three months ago that he was in spring training competing for the fifth’s starter’s job. He also entered this season 1-6 with a 5.82 ERA in 12 major-league games.
“You know when you break camp as the No. 5 guy, if something happens or if someone starts off hot down below you might be the guy that gets moved,” Locke said. “It’s kind of pitching to survive. Try to pitch well and keep your job as long as you can. I’m obviously pleased with what’s going on and where the team is right now. I’ll just keep taking (the ball) as long as they keep giving it to me.”
In his last six starts, Locke has compiled a 0.99 ERA. He also had not allowed a run in his last three starts at PNC Park, covering 20 1/3 innings.
“You always look during a season for somebody to show up in the rotation, somebody to show up in the bullpen, somebody to show up as a position player you thought would do OK,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We call them survivors here when they initially get up to the leagues then we look for them to turn that corner as competitors and the last stage as a winner. I think we’ve seen Jeff grow out of that surviving stage and he’s right in the middle of the competing stage.”
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Gerrit Cole will take the mound for his second major-league start this afternoon at PNC Park. History suggests the odds are against the Pirates right-hander raising his record to 2-0.
Amazingly, just three other Pirates have won their first two career starts since records were first available in 1916. Thus, Cole will be trying to join some select company when he faces the Dodgers after beating San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Myrl Brown pitched back-to-back complete games in 1922, beating the Boston Braves on a five-hitter on Aug. 19 then scattering 12 hits five days later to defeat Philadelphia. Brown finished the season 3-1 with a 5.97 ERA in seven games, including five starts, and never pitched in the major leagues again.
Jose DeLeon went 2-0 for the Pirates in 1983, holding San Francisco to two runs in eight innings on June 23 then throwing a four-hitter while allowing one run against San Diego four days later. DeLeon spent four seasons with the Pirates and went 17-38 – including 2-19 in 1985 – before being traded to the Chicago White Sox for slugger Bobby Bonilla.
The last Pirate to win his first two starts was Tim Wakefield in 1992.
The knuckleballer debuted July 31 and pitched a six-hitter against St. Louis, allowing two unearned run, striking out 10, walking five and throwing 146 pitches. On Aug. 5, Wakefield beat the New York Mets, holding them to two runs in eight innings.
Wakefield went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 13 starts then beat Atlanta twice in the National League Championship Series, giving him the distinction of being the last Pirates pitcher to win a postseason game. The Pirates released Wakefield during spring training in 1995 and he went on to win 16 games for Boston that year and 186 in 17 seasons.
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A quality start is defined as occurring when a starting pitcher works at least six innings and allowed three earned runs or fewer.
Bill Chuck of baseball-analytics.com takes that a step further and has a stat called the ultra quality start – seven or more innings and two or fewer earned runs.
Coming into the weekend, the Pirates had 17 UQS in their first 67 games. Burnett had a team-leading seven and was followed by Locke (three), Wandy Rodriguez (three), Francisco Liriano (two), Jeanmar Gomez (one) and James McDonald (one).