Although the Bats jumped on him in the first, with a double, an error, a sac fly and a reportedly preposterous dinger from ex-Bull Jonny Gomes, Price settled down and sailed through the next three and two-thirds innings, leaving just one out shy of qualifying as the winning pitcher of record. He had five strikeouts, no walks and gave up four hits.
Price was bringing the heat, too: One pitch in the fourth, to Wes Bankston (another ex-Bull), was clocked at 98 mph.
Statistics were nothing but damned lies last night, truth be told. The night's best pitcher, Price, entered the game with an unimpressive 1-4 record in six starts and an ERA of 4.74. Price would have more chances at victories, though, if he were allowed to pitch to the sixth inning more often. As it happens, his ERA dropped slightly after tonight's effort, but his record remains 1-4. Of course, his win totals and his ERA are of less consequence than those upper-90s fastballs that he's throwing for strikes .
On the other hand, the night's worst pitcher was Dale Thayer, he of the 0.56 ERA and four saves in as many opportunities. Sobsey wrote a post here (scroll down) wondering what the 28-year-old Thayer, who has yet to pitch in a single major league game, has to do to earn a major league call-up. On last night's evidence, one thing he presumably has to do is hold on to four-run leads.
The box score will tell you that four of the five runs Thayer gave up were unearned due to a would-be game-ending double-play ball that Chris Richard instead threw over second base and into left field. But as a wise man in the press box said later, "[Thayer] was still up four runs after that error. You gotta be able to pitch out of that."
Instead, batter after batter pulled and poked at Thayer's tosses. Four balls were sent to left field, including a Gomes double that brought in the tying and winning runs. At no time did Thayer appear to have a booster rocket for his pitches, one that would get him out of the inning. And at no time did Bulls manager Charlie Montoyo have a reliever warming up in the bullpen. Clearly, he was going to live and die with Thayer on the mound.
In fairness to Thayer, even Mariano Rivera blows four-run leads once in a while. But what's misleading is that Thayer's ERA is now a still-sizzling 1.06, while Price's is now 4.60.
The actual Adam Sobsey returns tonight.
