The Cleveland Guardians got some good and some bad from their promising hurler.
Luis L. Ortiz didn’t have his best outing on Wednesday, and it cost the team a win vs. the New York Yankees.
The Guardians could have secured a three-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers for the first time in 55 years, but the 26-year-old Dominican was a little off.
When asked about his performance, manager Stephen Vogt acknowledged that the Yankees did a good job of keeping him on the mound by hitting fouls and forcing him to throw a lot of pitches, which eventually messed with his command:
“Louie’s command was a little off today. The Yankees made him throw a lot of pitches. The fouled off a lot of pitching this whole series, which leads to pitch counts going up,” Vogt said. “But there were walks as well. It just wasn’t the best version of Louie today.”
Ortiz issued five walks and allowed four earned runs on five hits in the loss.
He was only able to stay there for 4.1 innings en route to a career-high 104 pitches.
On the bright side, he did strike out eight hitters
That outing brought his season record to 2-3 with a disappointing 5.96 ERA in five appearances (all starts).
He has 31 strikeouts in 25.2 frames, but he also has issued 14 walks and has a 1.558 WHIP.
Ortiz averages 4.9 walks per nine innings, and command has been a concern all season long.
He clearly has a lot of talent and potential, and the team is doing the right thing by taking things slowly with him and allowing him to grow through his mistakes, even if it’s not always pretty.
The Guardians are now 14-10 for the season and will stay home for a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox.
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