Here at the ol' blog, we're going to try and do a better job keeping up with and analyzing Brandon Webb's starts. He is a former Wildcat, after all. He's from Ashland. He's one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. And he's on his way to another spectacular year for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Going for his 12th win of the season, Webb got a no-decision last night as Arizona ended up losing at the New York Mets 5-3 in 13 innings. He was struck on the side by Carlos Delgado line drive and left an inning later.
Brandon's line:
IP H R ER BB K HR NP-St ERA
5.0 5 3 3 0 4 0 58-40 2.73
It was his second-shortest start of the 14 Brandon has made this season. He lasted just 4 1/3 innings back on May 26 in a 7-3 loss at Atlanta. Since that start, he had pitched 23 innings in his last three starts, allowing 12 hits and just two earned runs. He won both starts, lowering his ERA to 2.58. Last night, obviously didn't go quite as well. He threw just 58 pitches, a season-low.
In the Arizona Republic, Arizona manager Bob Melvin said afterward of the line drive, "He felt it a little bit, but at that point, the way we had been riding him, I didn't want to run him out there for two more innings and get his pitch counts up. Innings-wise he's pitched quite a bit for us. Just wanted to give him a little blow."
Webb said he might be experiencing a bit of a dead arm, saying, "Yeah, it doesn't hurt. Maybe a dead-arm period or something like that. Like I said, it doesn't hurt, so it's tough to tell. Everything feels good."
Next start: Tuesday, June 17, versus visiting Oakland.
