Another day, another quality start for José Buttó. On Thursday, in the Mets’ controversial 1-0 loss, the right-hander did his part to keep the game close.
Through five starts and 28 innings this season, the 26-year-old right-hander is sporting just a 2.57 ERA. Over his last 12 major league starts, he has a 2.86 ERA.
That impressive start continued on Wednesday evening as he mowed down the Cubs for six innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run while striking out six.
Buttó’s lone run allowed came in the top of the fifth, when former Met prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a sac fly to right field, scoring the game’s only run batted in.
Photo by Roberto Carlo
Unfortunately, this one run allowed would prove to be the downfall of the Mets. New York struggled at the plate throughout the game, slotting only five hits and zero runs.
The team came alive in the ninth, but the game came to an end on a play at the plate that had Citi Field and the Mets team up in arms.
With that, Buttó picked up an unfortunate loss, proving yet again the obscurity of the win-loss pitcher record.
Buttó’s hot start seems to stem from the success of his fastball, which ranks in the 93rd percentile of fastball run value league-wide. Plus, his whiff% of 33.2 ranks him among the best in the league, just missing the top 10 in the 89th percentile. In five starts this season, he’s allowed two runs or less and pitched into the sixth in FOUR of them.
I’m no expert, but I’d say that’s pretty good.
On to the next!
