A 34-year-old man on his fifth big-league organization is pitching the best of his life immediately upon returning from reconstructive elbow surgery, and even by baseball’s standards, this is a hard thing to explain.
Jason Vargas doesn’t have a particularly persuasive explanation, anyway. He was terrific, again, this time throwing seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and just three base runners allowed in the Royals’ 2-0 win over the Giants on Wednesday.
He did not throw a single pitch above 88 miles per hour, which is standard for him. He shut down a big-league offense by hitting every spot, on each corner, and using a magician’s change-up to keep everyone guessing.