On Wednesday, in an apparent showing of solidarity for the state employees who will be laid off during the government shutdown, the Minnesota Twins’ bats also stopped working.
Fortunately for the team, Scott Baker was on the mound.
Baker, with the help of the bullpen, stifled the Dodger lineup, shutting them out and walking away from the game with a 1-0 victory. With those scoreless 7.1 innings of work, he is now the owner of a sterling 3.15 ERA, a very good 3.44 xFIP and 101 strikeouts on the season. And, with numbers like those, Baker has emerged as the most reliable member of the rotation.
There isn’t anything special behind Baker’s return to success. There is no new cutter, pumped up velocity or an increased reliance on an off-speed pitch. It boils down to his health which has led to better command. Baker has always exercised an impressively small walk rate but his struggles in 2010 were not because he wasn’t throwing strikes – it was that he was consistently missing his spot...
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