Happy Felix Day! It’s nice to say that with a bit more optimism and joy than in the recent past.
After a solid win to open the second half, the M’s face the soft underbelly of the White Sox rotation today in the person of well-traveled Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey was originally a decent #4-5 who made up for a lack of strikeouts with decent grounder rates, leading to low HRs. That worked for a while, but the approach requires great command, especially since Pelfrey’s never been a Keuchel-level ground ball guy. The low K rate meant that getting out of tough situations was even harder for him, leading to a low strand rate.