J.A. Happ Puts On A Show In Toronto Blue Jays Win Over Texas Rangers
You could almost say that maybe J.A. Happ needed this.
After being shifted into the Toronto Blue Jays rotation over Brett Cecil and delivering unimpressive results over his first pair of starts (8 ER over 10 innings), the lefty had his work cut out for him last night, having to take on the high-powered offense of the Texas Rangers and finding himself locked in a pitchers duel against Yu Darvish. If you’d had guessed beforehand that Happ was probably going to get hit pretty hard, you probably weren’t alone.
Instead, Happ gave the hometown crowd a display of the skills that once made him a top prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies, putting on a swing-and-miss clinic against the Rangers. After getting his feet wet with a strikeout of Ian Kinsler in the first inning, Happ then went on to strike out the side in the 2nd and the 3rd inning, making the stadium abuzz with the cheering of Blue Jays fans both happy about getting free pizza by the end of the 3rd inning (7Ks promo from local pizza shop) and perhaps not quite able to comprehend just exactly what was going on. Who is this guy, and how did he just strike out six batters in a row?
Though the Ks from Happ wound up topping out at 8, he allowed just a run on 2 hits and a walk, and wound up winning the pitchers duel against Darvish (who won the Ks battle, striking out a whopping 10 Blue Jays batters). The downside from striking out every Rangers batter besides Josh Hamilton? Well, Happ was unable to go past the 6th inning in the game, with the team taking him out after 98 pitches – Happ was under 90 pitches in both of his previous starts for the Blue Jays as he was getting stretched out.
Still, the 2 hits allowed is the fewest in any start he’s made this season, and just the 5th time that he’s allowed 2 or fewer hits in a start in his career. Happ has had no problem attacking the strike zone either, only walking 2 batters in his last 3 starts, giving him a very good 17:2 K:BB in that span. With the Blue Jays rotation in constant flux right now, last night wasn’t just the first impressive start from Happ for his new team, but it might have been just the start that Happ needed to convince the team to keep him in the rotation as well.
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