The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the midst of their hottest stretch of the season, winning seven of their last eight games after defeating the San Diego Padres, 4-1, on Friday night.
Ross Stripling turned in another solid start, striking out a career-high 10 in 6.2 innings while only allowing six hits and one run, which was unearned. Stripling has been on a role of late, and because of that, his confidence is growing with each start.
“I think at this level as you get guys out, you just get more confident,” Stripling said. “When you first come up it’s just, ‘OK, do I belong?’ and then you start logging innings and you switch roles in my case and come back to the old role and once you get some comfort you can get confident.
“You can snowball a couple good outings in a row and try to let that build your confidence. Feeling good right now, but obviously, this game can be humbling.”
Stripling has been turning to his curveball with more frequency as of late, particularly with two strikes on hitters. “I threw a ton of them,” he said after facing the San Diego Padres.
“Seems like I’m getting more confident with it in every outing and throwing it in any count. Trusting the break and trusting the scouting that I can throw it to pretty much any righty and certain lefties. Just rolling with it and throwing it as hard as I can.”
Ross Stripling has been working on incorporating a backdoor cutter. pic.twitter.com/vibW4TyDiW
— Matthew Moreno (@MMoreno1015) May 26, 2018
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also has taken note of how Stripling’s confidence has grown this season. “For Ross, it’s confidence. Just his ability to attack the strike zone with any one of his four pitches,” Roberts said.
“He’s got a great tempo, he gets the grounder when he needs to, and he gets the strikeout when he needs to. The mound presence has always been good but the confidence is really big. There’s any number of ways he can attack a guy.”
With Friday night’s win, Stripling improved to 2-1 on the season to go along with a 1.74 ERA and 1.19 WHIP while striking out 50 compared to just nine walks in 41.1 innings. That includes his time working as a relief pitcher.
Ross Stripling couldn't help but laugh when asked if his ERA will remain lower than Max Scherzer's. "He's certainly fun to watch, man. That guy is crazy," Stripling said. pic.twitter.com/MfqdmRC613
— Matthew Moreno (@MMoreno1015) May 26, 2018
“He’s been good in the bullpen, he’s been good in the rotation,” said Matt Kemp, who provided a three-run home run in the first inning. “Stepping up when guys get hurt. He’s done a great job. Happy for his success thus far. Hopefully he keeps that going because he’s been doing an unbelievable job.”
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