Emmet Sheehan has been an impressive addition to the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation since he was promoted from Double-A Tulsa on June 16 amid a string of injuries for the pitching staff.
Sheehan has pitched 17 innings over his first three starts, which included a historic MLB debut where he allowed no hits over six shutout innings. The right-hander followed that up with six innings of two-run ball against the Houston Astros his next time out.
Sheehand had his worst start of the season on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies, but still managed to pitch five innings while giving up three runs to keep the Dodgers in the game.
While it wasn’t as stellar as his previous performances, Sheehan was still happy with the overall results, via SportsNet LA:
“It was a little bumpy in the first few innings but after that I felt like I locked it down pretty good and figured it out. All around, pretty good.”
Although the Rockies lineup is undoubtedly the least-talented group the 23-year-old has faced at the Major League level, it still came at one of the toughest places — if not the toughest — to pitch in Coors Field. Still, Sheehan did not notice an increased challenge with the hitter-friendly environment:
“I honestly didn’t really notice a difference. In terms of like I didn’t really get any shortness of breath out there or notice the ball flying too much. It felt like a regular start to me.”
In addition to the possible challenge of Coors Field, Sheehan also had to deal with a weather delay, which pushed the scheduled start time back by nearly two hours. But the rookie showed promising poise by not letting that affect him:
“Not really. I just treated it like we were playing the whole time. It wasn’t really a thought in my head that we were going to postpone the game. If that happened, I would’ve just dealt with it when it came. Overall, I felt good. Felt like a regular game and just treated it like the same.”
Over his three starts, Sheehan now owns a 2.65 ERA with 0.82 WHIP and 12 strikeouts. He should face off against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his next time out, which provides Sheehan an opportunity to rebound a bit statistically against a club that has been struggling of late.
Emmet Sheehan broke MLB record to begin career
With Sheehan’s first two outings, he became the only pitcher during the Modern Era (since 1900) of MLB history to allow no more than three hits and pitch at least 12 innings through his first two starts.
Sheehan began his career with 8.1 no-hit innings before finally giving one up to Chas McCormick on an infield single.
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