Closing Time: Danny Salazar dominant* vs. Detroit (*until Miggy’s fourth at-bat)
Before we get into the details of Danny Salazar's second major league start, go pick him up. Now. GO. We are not gonna have this conversation again.
Salazar was wickedly good on Wednesday night, striking out 10 Tigers over 7.2 innings while issuing only one walk. He hit 99 mph in the eighth, 100 in the seventh — and it looked easy. The kid allowed just seven Detroit hits on the night, nearly all on off-speed pitches. He whiffed Prince Fielder twice and Miguel Cabrera three times.
And then Miggy chased him from the game with this 7,000-foot bomb, hit deep into the night. Thanks for playing, kid.
(When you watch that clip, note the sky-point by Salazar after Cabrera connected. As if Kipnis was gonna catch that thing.)
Still, despite the no-decision and the sloppy finish, you really had to be impressed by Salazar's performance. He was throwing pure smoke.
Salazar has piled up Ks in the minors, striking out 129 batters over 93.0 innings across two levels this year, walking only 28. He hasn't given up a run in his last three Triple-A appearances, fanning 25 hitters over 14.0 frames. Salazar's innings aren't scary-high, so there's no reason to think there's a shutdown on the horizon. Again: Make the add. He's owned in 15 percent of Yahoo! leagues at the moment. Not sure if he'll get three starts, or four, or six. But Salazar's next turn should be on Monday at Minnesota, a friendly match-up. Let's see where the story goes.
I've watched nothing but A.L. Central baseball tonight, you guys, but I can still read a box score, so let's bullet...
• Shelby Miller and Chris Archer both checked out of games due to injury on Wednesday, making this a rough night for my fantasy portfolio. Miller is merely contused, according to the early reports, while Archer experienced forearm tightness. Precautionary, they say. So we wait. But there's no great need to worry, because you picked up Salazar like three minutes ago.
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Marco Estrada finally returned from the hamstring strain that would not heal, and he matched Madison Bumgarner for over 5.0 excellent innings in San Francisco on Wednesday night. Estrada's allowed just one hit in his return, striking out six. We know there are Ks to be found here, so consider the add as needed.
• Don't even ask me about Donnie Murphy. If you're a ride-the-hot-streak! sort of fantasy owner, then there's nothing I can say to dissuade you, anyway. He's 30, a career .204/.271/.376 hitter. But you don't care, because he's streaking. Fine. Moving on...
• This was a pretty good night for Dannys, as Seattle closer Danny Farquhar earned his third save in as many attempts. He hasn't yielded a run over his last eight appearances, and he owns the ninth for the M's. Farquhar is a hard-thrower who's punched out 53 hitters in just 35.1 innings this season, so the stuff ain't bad. He's available in 63 percent of the Yahoo! universe, though obviously not in deeper, competitive leagues.
• As I went to hit publish on this thing, Wil Myers exited the Rays-DBacks game. I don't even wanna know what that's about. A Myers injury would pretty much leave my F&F team in smouldering ruins, so let's hope he was just sleepy.
(Update: It was asthma for Myers. Threat level, lowered. F&F team, alive.)
