If you answered Jeff Niemann, you are correct. In fact, he is the only Rays starter with a complete game this season, getting his second this season against the Athletics as both would be complete game shutouts. Not sure what really made him effective last night other than his wide assortment of movement on his pitches thrown. Also pitching against a weak A’s offense helps too.
Getting three walks to six strikeouts means he had gave up a good amount of balls in play. Fortunately most of those balls in play were outs, 11 to 10 groundouts to flyouts and only six hits, all of which were singles.
The movement chart for the night shows the mph of each pitch.
Remember that Niemann made his first start since being skipped from his schedule start and placed in the bullpen last weekend in Texas, where had one really bad relief outing. He looked very comfortable on the mound as he normally does at home.
Overall, a nice start to finish off a good first half. Now a good week long plus stretch of no pitching looks to a be a big obstacle for Niemann to start the second half on the right foot.
