Parker

Messick

Messick struck out six and walked none, but the A’s got to him for three homers today. It’s the first time in seven starts this season that he’s given up four runs. He’ll face the Twins next time out.

Messick struck out the side in the opening frame and continued rolling from there, scattering three baserunners over five frames and carrying a shutout into the sixth inning before finally meeting some pushback. He issued a leadoff walk to veteran Yandy Díaz before lefty-masher Ryan Vilade delivered a run-scoring single with two outs that chased him from the contest after 95 pitches (58 strikes). The unheralded 25-year-old rookie isn’t overpowering, but he manages to keep hitters off balance by changing speeds and mixing locations. He’s been a revelation this season with a sparkling 1.73 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 38/10 K/BB ratio across 36 1/3 innings over six starts. He’ll close out a two-start week with a challenging road matchup against the Athletics on Sunday.

Although he threw a career-high 112 pitches in his near no-hitter Thursday against the Orioles, Messick pitched on four days’ rest. He still looked good tonight, with his velocity up just slightly over his season norms, and he opened with up four scoreless innings before giving up all three runs in the fifth. Of the Astros’ four hits in the inning, only the first, a groundball single from Isaac Paredes, was a hard-hit ball. Messick, though, didn’t help himself by mixing in a HBP and a walk. Messick’s ERA jumped from 1.05 to 1.76. He’ll likely make his next start Monday against the Rays.

He allowed a leadoff walk to Taylor Ward to start the game and another to Leody Taveras to start the sixth inning but that was the only traffic on the bases against him until Taveras singled on the first pitch of the ninth inning to break up the no-hit bid. Blaze Alexander then followed with a single before Messick handed the ball over to Cade Smith — and both inherited runners ultimately scored. The 25-year-old rookie left-hander struck out nine batters on the night while issuing a pair of walks. He got 18 swings and misses on 112 pitches on the night — nine of those on his changeup — while posting a solid CSW of 30 percent. Now 3-0 on the season, he’ll carry a microscopic 1.05 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and a 25/7 K/BB ratio (25 2/3 innings) into Tuesday’s matchup against the Astros.

Messick didn’t exactly dominate the Atlanta lineup Saturday, generating only four swings and misses. He was effective nonetheless, scattering five hits, issuing two walks and still picking up five strikeouts with his deception. Messick has been outstanding to open the year, and his ERA is now a paltry 0.51 for his trouble. He’ll try and keep up the good work Thursday in a scheduled start against the Orioles.

Messick struck out six in his second straight strong showing to start the year. He allowed only two hits, one of which was a 355-foot homer from Matt Shaw. He has a tough assignment in Atlanta next weekend, but it’s worth rolling with him in mixed leagues.

Messick walked none and gave up just two hard-hit balls, the harder of which turned into a double play off the bat of Miguel Rojas. It looked like the Guardians might send him down in favor of Logan Allen at the end of the spring, but they clearly made the right decision to keep him at the back of their rotation. He’s a perfectly solid mixed-league play, and he’ll next face the Cubs at home on Sunday.

Messick put together a strong performance this spring to break camp in Cleveland’s season-opening rotation and offers enough upside to warrant rostering in shallow mixed leagues as a low-risk flyer. The 25-year-old lefty doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he boasts outstanding control and posted a strong 2.72 ERA — 3.06 xERA — and 38/6 K/BB ratio across 39 2/3 innings over seven starts as a rookie last year. He’s in line to take the ball on Sunday against the Mariners for his season debut.

The writing was seemingly on the wall after Allen was torched for 12 runs over 2 1/3 innings on Friday in a spring start against the Mariners. The move clears the runway for intriguing pitching prospect Parker Messick to open the regular season in Cleveland’s rotation.

Messick was facing the bad split-squad, too, though he did retire Vinnie Pasquantino, the lone likely major leaguer on the trip, all three times he faced him. Also, all three homers he gave up would have stayed in play in Progressive Field, with one or two of them turning into outs. Messick now has a 3.60 ERA and an 11/4 K/BB in 15 innings for the spring. It’s quite possible the Guardians will pick Joey Cantillo and Logan Allen over him for their two rotation vacancies, but Messick would be plenty intriguing if he gets the spot.