John Lamb masterfully pitched to contact in his winning start Wednesday for the Cincinnati Reds against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
The 25-year-old left-hander delivered 65 strikes among his 92 pitches over seven innings in his first win of the season. He gave up just one run, one walk and six hits. The performance was a clinic on how to thrive as a major league starter without relying on a mid-90’s fastball.
The effort by Lamb was even more impressive because of the way he started the game. A leadoff single followed by a double accounted for the Rockies only run against Lamb. He threw 28 of his 92 pitches in the first inning.
Lamb was even more impressive midway through his start. A line drive to lead off the fourth inning was scorched right back up the box and hit him square in the hip. The ball ricocheted all the way to foul territory on the first base side.
Visibly hurt, Lamb remained in the game. He proceeded to throw four more shutout innings. Ultimately, Lamb’s steady assortment of 88-92 mph fastballs with slow curves, change-ups and sliders mixed in proved to keep the Rockies’ powerful lineup off balance all game.
Lamb has endured tough luck to start the 2016 season. Offseason back surgery delayed his first start until May 3. He had suffered a jammed thumb while batting in his second start of the season that forced him out of the game after four innings. In his first two starts, Lamb had given up just two earned runs in 10 innings.
Returning from the thumb injury eight days later, however, proved more difficult. He gave up 16 earned runs in 13.2 innings over his next three starts.
But Lamb’s gem buys him more starts for now, especially a day after the historically bad night rendered by Reds’ pitching and starter Jon Moscot in a 17-4 drubbing.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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