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Yovani Gallardo is having the best season no one is paying attention to
Over the first half of the 2015 season, the talk about the “best pitcher in baseball” has been mostly about some usual suspects like Max Scherzer and Zack Greinke, and some budding young stars like Dallas Keuchel and Chris Archer.
But one pitcher having a great season that few have taken notice of is Yovani Gallardo. The 29-year-old former All-Star is in his first season with the Rangers and has been a big part of their surprising start to the season. Over his last eight starts few in baseball have been better than Gallardo.
On Thursday night against the Orioles he extended his scoreless inning streak to 29.1 – the longest streak in the majors this year. The Rangers scored twice in the ninth to earn the win and are 6-2 overall in Gallardo’s last eight starts.
He hasn't allowed a run June 10, and hasn’t lost since May 19. Over those last eight starts he has given up just five earned runs in 51.1 innings, for an ERA of 0.88, with an opponent’s batting average of .169. For the whole season he has a 2.56 ERA (10th best in the majors), and a 72/31 K/BB ratio. He’s 10th in the majors with a 2.8 WAR.
He’s been doing it against some stiff competition, too. On Thursday he cooled off the high-scoring Orioles. In his previous start he was dominant in a win over the Blue Jays, the highest-scoring team in baseball, blanking them over 8.1 innings. Here’s a look at Gallardo’s last four starts.
Opponent | Innings | Hits | Runs | Walks | Strikeouts |
Dodgers | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
White Sox | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Blue Jays | 8.1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Orioles | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Perhaps he’s flying under the radar because he doesn’t pass the foolish “eyeball test” with his 7-6 record. If you insist on griping about that, take into account that he gets only 3.31 runs of support on average despite the Rangers scoring the eighth-most runs in the league. Gallardo hasn’t given up more than four runs in a single start, and he’s given up only seven home runs all season and none since May 19. (Also, for you fantasy players out there, he’s still available in 33 percent of Yahoo leagues).
Gallardo was an All-Star while with the Brewers in 2010, and despite few people in baseball taking notice, he’s worthy of another nod in 2015.
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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at denomme@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter.
