Chris Tillman Today 2015

[OFFNY]

o

(vs. TIGERS, 7/18)

8 shutout innings.

1 hit (a single.)

1 walk, 8 strikeouts.

Worked with the slimmest of margins (the Orioles scored 1 run in the 3rd inning, and didn't score again until the 9th inning.)

Has not lost a game since May 31st.

In that time frame (since May 31st), his ERA has gone down by almost a full run (5.94 to 4.96), and his WHIP has gone down from 1.642 to 1.449.

He gave up 6 ER in 1.1 innings on June 21st. 10 hits in 4.2 innings on July 4th. Not losing since the end of May hasn't been due to a lack of effort on his part.

Here's hoping he finishes the season strong. Apart from a few flashes, he's been...well, you know.

That were 2 games out of 8, in which the Orioles offense bailed him out.

His overall numbers since May 31st have improved considerably in spite of those 2 awful games, not just his W-L record.

[Nevermore]

I'd rather have the GB pitcher pitch in New York, not Tampa. Plus...I think extra rest could have played a role in Ubaldo's bad outing.

I heard Ubaldo's interview after his Tiger's game. Gary Thorne tried to say, "it must have been the extra rest, wasn't it?" Ubaldo said firmly, "I don't want to make any excuses for my outing."

[Nevermore]

o

(vs. TIGERS, 7/18)

8 shutout innings.

1 hit (a single.)

1 walk, 8 strikeouts.

Worked with the slimmest of margins (the Orioles scored 1 run in the 3rd inning, and didn't score again until the 9th inning.)

Has not lost a game since May 31st.

In that time frame (since May 31st), his ERA has gone down by almost a full run (5.94 to 4.96), and his WHIP has gone down from 1.642 to 1.449.

Wow, what a game Tilly pitched tonight. He was absolutely lights-out; he had the Tiger hitters talking to themselves.

[EagleOriole]

If my calculations are correct - Tillman has an ERA of 15.00 vs. the Blue Jays and and ERA of 3.14 against everyone else:

vs. TOR = 25 ER in 15 IP

vs. All others = 29 ER in 83 IP

Maybe skip him vs. the Blue Jays...

[ReclaimTheCrown]

At the risk of making way too much out of one start, you could make an argument that last night was a potentially season saving start from Tillman (yes, I'm aware it's July). Especially if you work off the assumption that I have that this is our make or break road trip - an unsuccessful trip, to me, should put us in the sellers category. All that in mind, we sent Chris to the hill last night when our club has been scuffling terribly. And he had to face the Tigers best pitcher and a lineup that has been smoking. Then we essentially give him one run to pitch with all game (though the 9th inning insurance was certainly nice for Britton), and he makes it stand up in pretty brilliant fashion.

I think looking for "turning points" in seasons is an overblown media talking point, but desperate times, man. Gonzo could certainly go out, continue to struggle, and just get lit up today; however, it would be enormous if we could get a win today and hopefully build a little momentum heading into New York and Tampa. Hopefully the team will follow Tilly's lead. And hopefully this will be the Tillman that we continue to see the rest of the year.

[Bmorefan24]

Pretty decent tonight. Man, could we use some of that this half.

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Pretty decent? I'd say retiring the final 23 in a row is a tad better than pretty decent.

His best start ever maybe?

[ChrisP]

Pretty decent? I'd say retiring the final 23 in a row is a tad better than pretty decent.

His best start ever maybe?

His best start ever was his CG SHO in KC last May. I was there.

[Bmorefan24]

His best start ever was his CG SHO in KC last May. I was there.

Yeah that was definitely a great start. I don't know though, he was literally perfext over his final 7 2/3 last night. If we score another run in the 9th, I think Buck may have let him come back out.

[Aristotelian]

Would you guys think about pitching Tillman on normal rest in NY Thursday and pushing Ubaldo back to pitch in Tampa?

I don't think so. Chen-Ubaldo-Gausman is a pretty formidable lineup. I wouldn't change based on one good start. Also I like Ubaldo's splitter against the Yankees lefty hitters better than Tillman's stuff.

[FanSince88]

What a great "statement game" by Tillman. There are no "bad lineup" qualifiers here, this was a potent Detroit lineup in their own ballpark. Hoping he can build on this for the rest of the second half. The team desperately needs its starters to come through with the bats being so collectively inconsistent this year.

[FanSince88]

I don't think so. Chen-Ubaldo-Gausman is a pretty formidable lineup. I wouldn't change based on one good start. Also I like Ubaldo's splitter against the Yankees lefty hitters better than Tillman's stuff.

I agree. Don't push it. Plus, we need to publicly show confidence in Ubaldo after his struggles in the DET start. I don't like the message it sends if we pull him out of the Yankees series.

[spiritof66]

I don't think pitching Tillman at Yankee Stadium is the best strategy either for winning that game or for continuing to build his confidence. During the A-S break, Buck mentioned how he and the coaches and DD were planning the rest of the season's starts to optimize matchups, and I doubt it just happened that Chris is not scheduled to go in that series.

I wonder whether Chris's masterful performance reached historical levels -- a starter with an ERA that high this late in the reason giving up one hit and retiring 24 in a row.

It was, IMO, critcal for Chris to get the low strike calls on both his fastball and his off-speed pitches. Sometime in the middle of the game, when those were being called strikes pretty consistently, it seemed clear to me that if we could get to a save situation, Britton would be unhittable with that zone.

[Frobby]

Pretty decent? I'd say retiring the final 23 in a row is a tad better than pretty decent.

His best start ever maybe?

His best start ever was his CG SHO in KC last May. I was there.

Tillman's best games, by game score:

07/18/15: 8.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K's. Game score: 87

07/04/12: 8.1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K's. Game score: 80

09/28/12: 8.0 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K's. Game score: 80

08/19/14: 8.0 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K's. Game score: 80

05/16/14: 9.0 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's. Game score: 79

08/24/13: 8.0 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K's. Game score: 79

07/26/13: 7.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K's. Game score: 78

08/04/13: 8.0 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K's. Game score: 78

04/11/14: 8.0 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K's. Game score: 77

05/02/13: 8.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K's. Game score: 77

That's a lot of low-hit games.

[Mendoza Line]

He has been slowly getting better as the season progressed, but he certainly put it together last night. His changeup was absolutely filthy last night after being terrible most of the season. I thought he had been tipping it, but it was clear last night that the Tigers didn't know it was coming. I wonder if they found something and fixed it because the amount of flailing at it last night was borderline comical.

The curve and fastball command was also better although the command for both has been coming along for several starts now.

The guy I saw last night was in complete control. He had no hit stuff. To do that against the Tigers was very impressive.

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I have kind of thought this too, curveball included. Especially vs the Blue Jays. The (very) few times against them where is command hasn't been absolutely terrible, he's still been smacked around. On his complete 2nd inning meltdown start, I specifically remember what started it was on a 1-2 count he threw a really nice curve on Encarnacion, but it was like he knew it was coming and just golfed it off the dirt for a double.

[25 Nuggets]

I have kind of thought this too, curveball included. Especially vs the Blue Jays. The (very) few times against them where is command hasn't been absolutely terrible, he's still been smacked around. On his complete 2nd inning meltdown start, I specifically remember what started it was on a 1-2 count he threw a really nice curve on Encarnacion, but it was like he knew it was coming and just golfed it off the dirt for a double.

That's a good theory, especially when you consider his crazy splits vs Toronto and the rest of the league. Toronto may have something on him that they are not sharing with other teams. In which case, if no one in the Orioles organization can figure it out, it would be foolish to start him again vs Toronto.