Sean Doolittle gave up a solo home run in his inning of work in Friday night’s game, but left the mound with the Washington Nationals still up by one at the end of a 16-pitch, 13-strike effort which saw him get five swinging strikes and two called strikes with the 14 fastballs he threw.
Doolittle’s velocity was up a tick too, back where we’re used to seeing it, with an average of 95.3, a high of 96.1, and a low of 94.6, after he averaged 93.8 MPH in the regular season.
He told reporters after the Nationals’ 4-2 win that a combination of factors resulted in his stuff playing up, including the time off between outings, some mechanical changes he is working on, and the atmosphere in Dodger Stadium.