Foster Griffin fans nine, earns eighth victory

Griffin gave up three hits, walked two and struck out nine. The 30-year-old left-hander continues to pitch well as he lowered his ERA to 2.93 with a 3.56 xFIP. Griffin has a 23 percent strikeout percentage and six percent walk percentage. While his .240 BABIP allowed and 83 percent left on base percentage are sure to regress to the mean, Griffin has also displayed enough skills to remain firmly in starting lineups. He’s lined up to face the Pirates at home next weekend.

The left-hander threw 74 percent of his pitches for strikes, striking out six and walking two. He also posted a solid 14 percent swinging strike rate with 14 whiffs on the day, including a 39 percent swinging strike rate on his sweeper. Griffin lowered his ERA to 3.32 in his return to MLB, but he gets a much stiffer test against the Phillies next week. In shallow leagues, we might recommend keeping him in your bench for that one.

Griffin allowed six hits without walking anyone, lowering his ERA to 3.46 this season. This one got wild once he departed, with the Nationals losing 11-10 despite leading 9-1 in the bottom of the eighth. Griffin has been Washington’s most consistent starter this year, and he’ll remain on the fantasy radar with a home matchup versus the Royals up next.

Griffin held the D-backs scoreless over two frames before giving up a solo homer to Aramis Garcia in the third. That would be all the D-backs could bring home against Foster as he tossed two more scoreless frames. He allowed just one other baserunner on the day while striking out four. The 30-year-old right-hander will take a solid 3.63 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 69/21 K/BB ratio across 72 innings into a start against the Giants in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The runs came on homers from Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Griffn’s ERA is still a solid 3.76, but he’s up to 13 homers allowed in 67 innings, and it doesn’t seem like things will get a lot better for him there. He’ll make his next start Friday in Arizona.

Griffin allowed three hits and one walk, lowering his ERA to 3.63 on the year. He began the season on an unsustainable pace before allowing 14 earned runs in his past two starts. Then he blanked one of baseball’s best offenses in their own park. Griffin’s ERA is now right in line with his 3.75 xFIP, and he next lines up for a home start versus the Padres.

Griffin gave up two homers to Bo Bichette over the first two innings to put himself in an early 5-0 hole, so it didn’t look he had much of a chance of getting a win early on, but the Nationals’ offense bailed him out. The southpaw held the Mets off the board for his final three innings, so at least he finished strong. He struck out five in the victory while walking none and hitting a batter. Griffin has been a good addition for Washington, but he’s allowed 14 runs over his last two starts, increasing his ERA from 2.12 to 4.02 in the process. It doesn’t appear there’s much in the way of fantasy upside here outside of streaming.

Griffin still struck out seven, but this was a rough outing as he walked three, hit another batter, and allowed a pair of three-run homers. Four of the five hard-hit balls Griffin allowed were off his cutter. Griffin’s ERA spikes from 2.12 to 3.47. He’s still pitching well enough to stream against weaker teams, but if you threw him in Great American Ballpark you had to know that was a heat check of sorts. He’ll draw a much easier matchup against the Mets next week.

Griffin’s fifth pitch of the game was a middle-high fastball to Xavier Edwards. Edwards got every bit of said pitch, smashing it 420 feet into deep center to cut the Nationals’ lead to 3-1. He would then allow a double to Otto Lopez in the next at-bat, with Lopez coming around to score on an error a few plays later. Griffin would manage to escape the inning with the lead still intact and would go on to pitch six scoreless innings to pick up his fourth win of the season. Now sitting with a 4-1 record on the year and boasting a 2.12 ERA, Griffin remains one of the best stories in baseball during the early portion of the season. He’ll look to pick up his fifth win in his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday against the Reds.

Griffin retired the first two batters in the first inning, then loaded the bases on a single and two walks. An error and a hit would bring home three unearned runs for the Brewers before Griffin could get out of the opening frame. Griffin settled in nicely, giving the Nationals five more scoreless innings for a quality start. The 30-year-old left-hander ends the day with a 2.27 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and a 33/14 K/BB ratio across 39 2/3 innings.