He seemed to be cruising and his pitch count was low.
I don’t doubt anything the baseball staff does. However, it seemed to be a strange move at the time, especially considering it was the first game of the series.
Really don’t know they were not getting good swings and he had thrown about 70 pitches…
I wondered this, and the same thing about Wicklander in game 1. Both had very low pitch counts and did not seem to be in any major trouble when lifted.
Seems curious that we keep hearing about how important it is for the starters to go deeper, yet here were 2 golden opportunities to get an inning or two more ouit of the starter that we declined.
As always, I’ll be the first to say that the coaches know a LOT more about all of the variables than I do. But that doesn’t mean that, as a fan, I can’t ask the question or scratch my head based upon what I do know/see.
Yes Wicklander could have stayed in… I don’t get it.
Never tax your big arms. 70-ish pitches is not uncommon. Oddly, middle schoolers may throw more on a travel team (which may be why their arms need surgery in HS and college). Plus, there is that really deep bullpen out there. Gotta give guys innings to see what they can do.
But, yeah, I get the concerns.
If you haven’t yet, go back and watch the post-game interviews. DVH was asked on both occasions; he discussed the reasoning behind those “early” pulls.
I am not sure our starters are that much better than our best bullpen guys. The starters do seem to be able to pitch for more innings more consistently and have more pitches in their repertoires. Lockhart throws 4 or 5 different pitches.
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I’ve heard Van Horn say on many occasions that they are going to pitch however they feel is in their best interest to win a game, and figure out everything else later. Even though the pitch count was relatively low, Pallette had not thrown more than six innings this year. I’m sure the feeling was that they rode Pallette’s arm for as long as they should and their best pitcher was fresh and ready to go in a 1-0 game. Having Kopps come in during the seventh inning has worked a lot this year.
I do not think they are going to push Wicklander deep until it gets warmer. I’m sure most read that Wicklander is wearing an insulin pump. I am sure he’s still trying to figure all of that out where it comes to diabetes.
I believe the idea is to do things that preserve arms for the stretch run.
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