Yunel Escobar- 3B- LAA- Idea- Entering last night, Escobar had pounded southpaws to the tune of a .364/.391/.409 slash line so far this season. This comes after posting .314/.382/.463 numbers last season. With Martin Perez having a .285/.353/.432 slash line against RH hitting in 2016, Escobar is in the driver's seat in the matchup. Value play- Draft Kings salary- $3600
Michael Pineda- P-NYY- Stats- Pineda could only get through 5.1 IP with his 104 pitches. He didn't have problems with control, as 73 of his pitches were strikes, he fanned 8 , and walked only 1. Pineda's issue was that he had a tough time finishing batters off and blowing balls by them. Of those strikes, 26 were foul balls, 10 coming in the first inning and 7 of those during a 12-pitch AB against Manny Machado. Pineda has a K/9 of 11.62 so far this season but if he isn't more economical than he was yesterday he won't last long enough to rack up as large a number of Ks.
Francisco Liriano- P- TOR- Caution- Liriano evened his record at 2-2 yesterday by allowing 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 6 and walking 4 in 5 IP. This was the third time he has walked 4 batters this season and has only had 1 start longer than 5.1 IP. While Liriano has had some bad luck (3.97 ERA and 3.49 FIP) his 5.96 BB/9 is a big concern. One positive is that he has only allowed 1 homer in 22.2 IP, after posting a HR/9 of 1.44 in 2016. Liriano needs to get more control to be able to pitch deeper in games in order to increase his value.
Todd Frazier- 3B- CHA- Hot- Frazier is working on a 6-game hitting streak in which he has gone 7-for-24 with 4 doubles, a homer, 7 runs, 7 RBI, and 3 walks. This could be the overdue appearance of some regression to the mean for Frazier. His BABIP is still at .190 so there is still plenty of room for more positive regression.
Yu Darvish- P- TEX- Caution- Darvish struck out 10 and only allowed 2 runs in 6 IP yesterday. However, he threw 125 pitches, most by any pitcher so far this season. This follows Darvish's last start of 113 pitches. Only 73 of his pitches yesterday were strikes and he walked 4. Darvish had an extra day of rest between starts but back-to-back high pitch outings could take a toll on his control, which has been inconsistent this season.
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