James Paxton turned in his worst start of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the rubber match against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Paxton allowed at least one run in every inning he pitched, while also allowing a five-spot in his final frame. Although he typically would not have pitched as long as he did, the Dodgers needed him to eat innings after Tyler Glasnow’s struggles the day before.
Overall, Paxton finished his outing with four innings pitched, giving up nine runs on 12 hits with four strikeouts and two walks. After the start, Paxton gave credit to the Giants for being on his fastball all game, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“They were just on the fastball today. We tried to go to some other things but they were just all over it,” Paxton said.
“They were definitely hunting fastball. Every time we went to it, they weren’t missing it. I feel like I was leaving the ball over the plate a little bit too much for them, but you know, they were swinging the bat well today.”
Paxton has relied on two pitches this year, his fastball and curveball, so not having one of them made it nearly impossible for him to get outs. Still, some credit is due to the left-hander for eating it on the mound and giving the club four innings.
Paxton has had a somewhat strange season, posting positive results with some of the traditional numbers, including his win-loss record and ERA. However, the peripheral numbers have painted a worse picture with his strikeout rate down significantly and his walk rate up.
Perhaps the outing was the expected regression that the analytics suggested, or maybe it was just one to throw away and move on from. Baseball is a hard game and things won’t go right all the time, so Paxton is taking the optimistic view and focusing on his next start:
“You’re not going to pitch well every game. You’re going to have games like today and I’ll keep working and be ready to come out next time,” he said. “Today just wasn’t a good one. Get ready for the next one and get back at it.”
Paxton’s season ERA now sits at a still respectable 4.28 in 75.2 innings, while also posting a 1.41 WHIP with 53 strikeouts across 15 starts. Even with the poor outing, his numbers suggest Paxton has been a quality back-of-the-rotation starter.
The Dodgers don’t need him to be an ace, and they know they’ll get some inconsistent starts from a backend starter, but he was signed to eat innings and provide depth to a group with many injury concerns, and so far Paxton has done just that.
James Paxton happy with curveball execution
While Paxton didn’t have his fastball on Sunday, he has been happy with the recent execution of his curveball.
In his last outing, Paxton threw 91 pitches against the White Sox, including his knuckle-curve 34 times. He registered 15 swings and misses, which was up from the 13 he got in his previous outing.
Against the Giants, he threw the pitch 37 times and recorded all four of his strikeouts with it. However, with the Giants able to eliminate his fastball, the curveball also posted worse results.
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