Tomoyuki

Sugano

Sugano closed out the regular season with an abbreviated clunker at Yankee Stadium that included three long balls, bringing his season total to 33 round-trippers. He finished with three strikeouts and didn’t hand out a free pass. The durable 35-year-old lived up to the offseason billing as a low-strikeout, pitch-to-contact innings-eater, finishing his Orioles debut with a pedestrian 4.64 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 106/36 K/BB ratio across 157 innings over 30 starts.

Sugano gave up just three hard-hit balls, but two of them were homers for Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Sugano became the fifth pitcher this season to give up 30 homers. He dropped to 10-9 with a 4.54 ERA, and because of the short start, he’s no longer a candidate to be among the starters to qualify for the ERA title in his first year in the U.S.; he’d need to throw 9 1/3 more innings. Sugano will face the Yankees again next weekend.

Sugano was excellent on Saturday, holding the Blue Jays to just one run over six innings on an efficient 63 pitches. He got through four scoreless frames before Addison Barger got to him for a solo homer in the fifth. Sugano ends the day with a 4.39 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, and a 100/35 K/BB ratio across 149 2/3 innings. He’ll take on the Yankees in Baltimore next weekend.

Sugano said the foot didn’t swell as much as expected after he was hit by a comebacker. He’s likely to pitch Sunday against the Blue Jays.

Sugano was tagged for seven hits, including three homers, before being lifted after being struck by a comebacker off the bat of Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim. He struck out one and didn’t hand out a free pass. The 35-year-old veteran will undergo additional testing to determine his status for next weekend’s start against the Blue Jays.

The 35-year-old hurler walked one batter on the day while striking out four. The Giants’ offense got to him early and often in this one, scoring once in the first, twice in the third and then four more times while chasing Sugano in the fourth inning. He got 11 swings and misses on 80 pitches in the contest, posting a solid CSW of 33 percent. Sugano will try to improve upon his 4.41 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 95/35 K/BB ratio (140 2/3 innings) when he does battle against the Dodgers on Sunday.

It was a rare off night for Sugano in this one as he was burned by the long ball, surrendering a leadoff homer to rookie phenom Roman Anthony before coughing up a go-ahead three-run blast to Jarren Duran in the fifth. He struck out six and only handed out a pair of free passes. He’ll bring a respectable 4.06 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 91/34 K/BB ratio across 137 1/3 innings (25 starts) into a road tilt on Sunday against the Giants.

Sugano allowed five hits, all of them singles, and wound up with three strikeouts and no walks. It seems like major leaguers should hit him harder, but they simply haven’t yet. He’s yet to give up a homer in four starts in August after allowing 21 in 20 starts over the first four months. He’ll again face the Red Sox next time out.

Sugano, who had a shutout going, probably would have finished the sixth if not for a two-hour, 18-minute rain delay halting play while he had one out and a man on first. Rico Garcia replaced him when the game resumed and immediately gave up a homer to Julio Rodríguez. Fortunately, the Orioles still had a 5-2 lead at that point and went on to win 5-3. The Orioles are now 15-8 when Sugano starts, compared to 40-58 the rest of the time. It’s not like Sugano has been all that effective with his 4.13 ERA, but he’s typically been just good enough. He’ll face the Red Sox in Boston on Tuesday.

Sugano mixed his six pitches beautifully – he threw five of them at least 13% of the time – and worked efficiently to grind out seven innings. The Athletics had traffic on the bases constantly, but Sugano always made a big pitch when he needed one to get out of a jam. He’s scheduled to face the Mariners at home next time out.