Saturday's Streaking and Slumping Starting Pitchers
Streakers
Chris Capuano, Milwaukee Brewers (4-4, 3.75 ERA)
The veteran left-hander is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career.
Last month he started five games, allowing just eight earned runs over 30.1 innings. Capuano doesn’t do a great job of going long into games – he didn’t get past the seventh during that stretch -- but he has become the model of consistency and allowed no more than five hits in any start the past five weeks.
"Knock on wood, I've been real happy with the way the arm feels," Capuano told the Associated Press.
Brian Matusz, Baltimore Orioles (9-12, 4.40 ERA)
The 23-year-old left-hander has been one of the top pitchers for the Orioles the past two months.
Matusz hasn’t lost since August 14, lowering his ERA nearly a full run over that span. During that stretch he has gone 5-0 over seven starts, going 40 innings and yielding just seven runs over that span. One of the biggest keys for the South Paw has been posting high strikeout totals.
During his hot streak he has 34 punch-outs against just 10 free passes.
"Any game, college or pro, I have to pitch inside," Matusz told USA Today. "I just believe the more options you have, the more tools you have in the toolbox, that makes it easier to go out and do the job."
Slumping
Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox (12-13, 4.32 ERA)
The hurler has been horrid in his past three outings, getting shelled for 15 earned runs over his past 17 innings and not lasting past the sixth inning any of those games.
Buehrle’s biggest problem is that he is struggling to strike out opposing hitters. He has just a 9-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio and has given up 30 hits the past three times he toed the rubber. Letting opposing hitters make contact has been a huge issue as batters are hitting a blistering .296 against him this year.
A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees (10-15, 5.33 ERA)
This might be the worst season of the 33-year-old’s career.
Burnett has gotten beat around in three of his past five outings as the team has dropped eight of his past 10 starts. In his most recent outing, a 7-5 loss to Toronto, Burnett was clubbed for seven earned runs on seven hits, including two home runs, in just 2.1 innings. Over his past 40.2 innings, he has given up 28 earned runs.