Blake Beavan Pitches Ahead, Mariners Complete Sweep

Blake Beavan

It's not a performance to store away in the memory for later relishing. It was not flashy and it was not against a particularly power house offense, though the Twins are perhaps underrated in that realm. It was a very Blake Beavan start. But that meaning is starting to morph into something more neutral than negative.

It wasn't done with spectacular ease. Beavan didn't slice through the Twins' lineup. He averaged over 4 pitches per batter faced and only 16 outs were recorded while he was on the mound, but Beavan kept the Twins from being dangerous all day. He faced 24 hitters and 20 of them saw strike one before they saw ball one.

The common definition of a hitter being ahead in the count refers to 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-1 and 3-1 counts. The average American League hitter this season has a .975 OPS when hitting ahead in the count and a .523 OPS when behind. Blake Beavan threw 97 pitches, 73 of which* could be in counts where he was ahead or behind. Beavan threw just seven pitches this afternoon while behind in the count and three of those came in the second-inning four-pitch walk to Justin Morneau. Conversely, Beavan tossed 49 pitches in 0-1, 0-2 and 1-2 counts.

*The first pitch of an at bat is always even. 97 - 24 batters faced = 73.

To add some perspective to that, do you remember Felix Hernandez's last start? He threw a perfect game. He threw 113 pitches against 27 batters so there were 86 non-first-pitches. For Felix that day, 35 came while ahead in the count. He threw 22 while behind in the count. Felix Hernandez was and looked dominant that day in many ways, but you could point to Beavan's performance just now as being authoritative in a less showy way.

The final 11 outs were handled by the bullpen without a hit, though they did walk four and strike out only two.