After never allowing more than one earned run in his first 38 appearances of the season, Clay Holmes has now hit that undesirable landmark three times in his last eight games out of the bullpen, including the last two.
The most recent flop, where he was handed the loss after coming in with a 3-2 lead and leaving with a 4-3 deficit in the eighth inning on Friday night, was capped off by a go-ahead double to a hitter in Paul DeJong who had been putting up worse numbers than Joey Gallo did in pinstripes this season.
“I think something that’s made me successful all year is limiting that type of contact to righties, and first pitch there he was able to put a good swing on it and get a double down the line,” Holmes said. “That type of contact, especially with runners on, can’t happen.”
Holmes was able to make his pitches early in the inning and get that desired weak contact, only one happened to be a dribbler up the third base line by Nolan Arenado to begin Holmes’ downfall after what looked to be a strong start to his night.
Instead, Holmes left with more questions about his current performance, as he holds a an 11.05 ERA in his last eight appearances.
“That’s kind of baseball some days,” Holmes said. “Just gotta be able to make a pitch there.
“I definitely felt a lot better out there tonight, but at the end of the day, two runs scored, and that’s the only thing that matters. Nights like this are tough, especially when you do feel pretty good. You gotta make the most of those, especially with a one run lead. But wasn’t able to do it tonight.”
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