Shane Drohan holds Braves to two runs through five

Drohan allowed one run on a leadoff walk and a single in the fifth and then was pulled with a 2-1 lead in the sixth after walking back-to-back batters with one out. Antonio Senzatela replaced him and, after getting Teoscar Hernández to ground out, gave up a three-run pinch-hit homer to Max Muncy to add two runs to Drohan’s total. Drohan will have an easier assignment at home next week against the Mariners, making him a decent option in mixed leagues.

Drohan walked two batters through the first two innings, but neither came around to score. In the third inning, however, Drohan walked Ryan Jeffers with one out, which proved costly when Josh Bell homered to bring in Jeffers and cut the Brewers’ lead to 4-2. Drohan would fall victim to the long ball again in the fourth inning when he allowed a solo homer to Kaelen Culpepper, and Austin Martin would later drive home Victor Caratini to tie the game at 4-4. In the fifth inning, Drohan surrendered two more runs, as the Twins extended their lead to 6-4, and did not return for the sixth. This was easily one of the worst outings of the season for Drohan. His four walks tied a season high, while his six earned runs set a new season high. It’s the second time in three games that Drohan has allowed five or more earned runs, and he’s posted a 4.83 ERA over his last seven starts while going 3-2 over that span. He’ll look to correct course in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday on the road against the Padres.

After getting an extra day off in between starts, Drohan rebounded from a surprisingly weak showing against the Rockies to put together his fourth quality start in his last five tries. Workload could be a concern here down the stretch, since Drohan missed much of the previous two seasons, but he’s still looking like a solid mixed-league option for now. He’ll probably face the Pirates on Thursday.

He struck out six, but allowed eight hard-hit balls. Drohan’s ERA climbs to 3.51 after his first start of more than three earned runs allowed since June 13. He’s probably earned enough benefit of the doubt at this point to trust against the Giants next week, though he is currently slated to oppose Logan Webb.

Drogan has turned in three straight quality starts, and he has a 2.70 ERA in his last six turns. As long as he’s starting every five or six days for the Brewers, he’s probably worth using in mixed leagues. That’s especially the case next week, as his next start is likely to come at home against the Rockies.

Drohan held the Pirates scoreless through three innings before Esmerlyn Valdez took him deep for a two-run blast in the fourth. Two hits in the sixth would bring a third run in for the Pirates. Drohan started the seventh inning, recording the first out before his day was over at 83 pitches. He struck out six. The 27-year-old left-hander holds a 3.09 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and a 67/20 K/BB ratio across 70 innings at the All-Star break.

Drohan completed six innings for the second time as a major leaguer, throwing a mere 85 pitches to get his 18 outs. He struck out only two and gave up 13 hard-hit balls, but he mostly kept the ball on the ground and surrendered just four singles and two doubles. He’ll face the Pirates on Saturday to finish the first half.

It was thought the Brewers might go back to a five-man rotation next week, but it’s not happening. There’s definitely no sense of urgency. The three possibilities to be dropped have all made four starts with ERAs in the mid-3.00s this month (3.48 for Sproat, 3.65 for Drohan and 3.74 for Gasser).

Facing exclusively right-handed batters, the left-handed Drohan did well to keep the Reds off the board here despite needing 98 pitches to get 13 outs. He labored through many long at-bats and traffic-riddled innings to get there though and didn’t have great command of either his curveball or slider and thus, struggled to put hitters away. This was just the second time in five starts since being fully unleashed as a starter where he failed to complete at least five innings. He’s scheduled to face the Reds again next time out followed by the Diamondbacks in a two-start week.

Drohan’s fastball velocity had been holding up quite well as a starter, but his first fastball was down about one mph today and his slider was down by about two mph. Fortunately, he still mostly produced soft contact, with David Fry’s 380-foot homer being the obvious exception. Drohan departed with a one-run lead, but that failed to last long. He’s 1-1 with a 4.43 ERA and a 19/6 K/BB over 20 1/3 innings in four starts since being added to the rotation at the beginning of the month. He’ll probably keep the spot following Brandon Woodruff’s return and face the Reds next week.