MiLB Game Scores from Week 8
By MiLB.com
By Ashley Marshall/ MiLB.com
Week 8 in the Minor League season saw a new pitcher break into the top five game scores for the first time in three weeks. The next time the top five changes, newcomers will have to post a 90 to make the list. Bear in mind there have only been two scores higher than 90 this year.
Read on to find out which hurler came without one out of a no-hitter and what they had to say about their performance.
Stat guru Bill James devised a metric called “game score,” a number arrived at by adding or subtracting points based on in-game performance. It does not take into account prospect status or level, making it simple to compare outings across different leagues, affiliations and classes.
Here’s how to calculate a pitcher’s game score:
- Start with 50 points
- Add one point for each out recorded
- Add two points for each inning completed after the fourth
- Add one point for each strikeout
- Subtract two points for each hit allowed
- Subtract four points for each earned run allowed
- Subtract two points for each unearned run allowed
- Subtract one point for each walk.
Here’s a look at the top five pitching performances from May 26 — June 1.
Game scores Week 7
NameTeamIPHRERBBSOGame scoreTim CooneyMemphis91002790Brad MillsNashville830001389Darin GorskiBinghamton92001688Jose BerriosFort Myers710001388Joseph ColonAkron93001484
Tim Cooney, 90
They don’t get much closer than that.
Tim Cooney came within one out of a no-hitter but settled for a one-hit shutout as Triple-A Memphis topped Iowa, 4–0, at AutoZone Park on May 29. The ninth-ranked Cardinals prospect struck out seven and walked two.
“I just couldn’t finish it, but I’m happy with the way I pitched,” Cooney told MiLB.com’s Josh Jackson. “I started out exactly how I wanted to pitch. I threw a lot of strikes. All four of my pitches were working, and the defense made a lot of good plays behind me as the game went on.”
The 23-year-old southpaw fanned Javier Baez, baseball’s №6 prospect, to end the game, but sixth-ranked Cubs prospect Arismendy Alcantara ended his bid at the first no-no in Redbirds franchise history on the first pitch of the game’s penultimate at-bat.
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The past few years have brought nothing but change for Brad Mills, but he’s taking everything in stride in an attempt to get back to the Majors.
Thursday’s strong performance is the latest effort that could give him hope in a season full of them. Mills (4–0) allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 13 batters over eight innings in the Triple-A Nashville Sounds’ 3–0 win over the visiting Colorado Springs Sky Sox on May 29.
“I mean, it was pretty good,” Mills told me. “I will take eight shutout innings any day. It was fun. It’s up there. You remember the games where you go past seven innings. We needed the win, and any time you can go eight innings with the pitch counts in the Minors, it’s one you remember.”
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What happens in Vegas doesn’t really always stay in Vegas, and that’s why Darin Gorski is itching to get back. He’s pitching like it, too.
The 26-year-old left-hander allowed two hits and one walk and struck out six en route to his first career shutout on May 26. He led Double-A Binghamton to a 5–0 win over and a four-game series sweep of New Britain, the B-Mets’ second individual two-hitter in the last 19 days after Greg Peavey accomplished the feat May 7 against New Hampshire.
“It was one of those games where the biggest key was pounding the strike zone,” said Gorski, who had four career complete games to his name entering Monday. “We did a good job of moving the fastball around and were able to get some early contact. That was a big help in keeping me around deep into the game.”
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The final pitch 2012 first-rounder Jose Berrios threw for Fort Myers on June 1 summed up his total dominance and highlighted how off-balance he kept Tampa’s hitters.
The two-strike slider to designated hitter Matt Snyder had so much late bite to it that Snyder swung through the pitch and then got hit by it. It was that kind of game.
Minnesota’s №5 prospect struck out a career-high 13 batters and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning while going the distance as the Class A Advanced Miracle one-hit the visiting Yankees, 3–0, in the first game of a doubleheader.
“That pitch he threw epitomized how he was going about putting hitters away,” Fort Myers pitching coach Gary Lucas told me. “His grip is really good and he’s a medium- to three-quarter-arm slot guy with a really, really good arm speed. He’s blessed with touch and feel for his off-speed pitches.”
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Right-handed Indians prospect Joe Colon was already posting the kinds of numbers that have all the markings of a successful campaign. On Monday afternoon, he gave perhaps the biggest indication that he’s on the cusp of a breakout season.
The 24-year-old allowed three hits and a walk while striking out four batters in a nine-inning complete game May 26 to lead the Double-A Akron RubberDucks to a 9–0 rout of the visiting Reading Fightin Phils.
The outing was Colon’s first professional complete game and shutout and it marked the first time he has pitched into the seventh this year. It helped him improve his Eastern League record to 4–2 and lowered his ERA to 2.30, which ranks seventh on the circuit.
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Here are the top MiLB game scores so far from the 2014 season.
2014′s Top MiLB Game Scores
NameTeamIPHRERBBSOGame ScoreWeekMike MontgomeryDurham8.100019913Josh TomlinColumbus9300010914Matt BoydDunedin8200012903Tim CooneyMemphis910027908Greg PeaveyBinghamton920006895
