Chris Stratton Throws Another Gem as he Continues to Break Out
Despite flirting dangerously with the bust tag earlier in his career, Chris Stratton continues to blossom when the Giants need him most.
Chris Stratton came into camp basically guaranteed to open the season as the San Francisco Giants’ fourth starter in the rotation. Manager Bruce Bochy said last season that he thought Stratton could be more than a back of the rotation type guy. That theory was put to the test early in the 2018 season.
When Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija both went down in the last week of Spring Training, Stratton was virtually propelled to being the number two starter behind Johnny Cueto. When Cueto joined his rotation mates on the disabled list after two starts, Stratton became the de facto ace. In his last two starts, Stratton has answered the challenge of being a top dog on the staff.
After his stellar seven-inning effort against the San Diego Padres last Thursday, during which he allowed one basehit while recording the 21st out for the first time in his big league career, he was up to the task again on Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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The 27-year-old in his third big league season twirled seven more dazzling innings, keeping the Diamondbacks off balance as he got through 21 outs for the second straight outing. He allowed three hits through seven innings, striking out eight without allowing a walk.
Stratton continues to thwart opposing lineups despite the lack of the purely overpowering stuff that is so commonplace in the game today. The right-hander only surpassed 93 on his fastball three times on Wednesday night, topping out at 93.5 in the fourth inning. He cruised around 91 to 92, but got outs by spotting the pitch on both sides of the plate and mixing in his off-speed pitches.
He struck out perennial Giant killer Paul Goldschmidt twice, and both times had the slugger guessing wrong. In a 3-2 count in the first inning, Stratton planted a slider on the outside edge when Goldschmidt was looking fastball. In the same count in the fourth inning, Goldschmidt was looking for a breaking ball when Stratton nailed the inside part of the plate with a fastball. In the seventh inning, Stratton froze both A.J. Pollock and Alex Avila with sliders.
Bochy believed in Stratton a bit too much, sending him back out for the eighth inning with 93 pitches already on his arm. The choice turned out to be the wrong one, with Nick Ahmed leading off the inning with a double and the next batter, Jarrod Dyson, breaking up the shutout with a triple. That would be Stratton’s last pitch of the day, but Tony Watson was able to keep that runner at third and keep that run off Stratton’s line.
Stratton has pitched 14 innings in his last two starts, and given up just the lone run while allowing nine baserunners (six hits, three walks). Dating back to his August 13th start last year against the Washington Nationals, Stratton owns a 2.25 ERA and 1.188 WHIP while striking out nearly a batter per inning (8.2 K/9) in 12 starts.
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The Giants have needed some big performances from Stratton. With the rotation so depleted and the team having to dig so far down on the depth chart already, Stratton has been one of the most consistent presences on the team so far. He was the stopper on Wednesday, helping to end a four-game losing streak with another masterful performance. When the rest of the rotation returns, having Stratton pitching alongside of them will make for a great combination.