Week 7; A Wash in Charlotte

 The Durham Bulls settled down a bit after their disastrous visit to Norfolk the previous week. They split the series, 3-3. 

Let's have a small aside on pitching, at least on two pitchers, Taj Bradley and Luis Patiño. Both of these young men are thought of as the future of the Tampa Bay Rays. Mr. Bradley has already been up to Tampa Bay and did very well while there. He started 3 games, pitched 15 innings, won all three games, and holds an OK 3.52 ERA. As a Bull, however, not so good. As a Bull he has started 5 games, pitched 16 innings, given up 20 earned runs, for an 11.25 ERA. Unless injured, there's no doubt he's going to keep on starting games for the Bulls and keep on working on whatever Tampa Bay wants him to work on. That's what Triple-A is all about, but sometimes we can hope that what he needs to work on for Tampa Bay aligns with what the Bulls need to win a game.

Mr. Patiño is a bit different. I've come to dread seeing him on the mound. He's appeared in 9 games (6 as a starter, 3 in relief). May has been a disaster so far. 4 appearances, 15 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. 

Last week in Charlotte was not good for either pitcher. Mr. Bradley started on May 11, lasted 3 1/3 innings, and gave up 4 runs. Mr. Patiño had two relief appearances. In one he did OK, 1 run in 1 inning; the next was awful, 7 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning.

Stats

5/15: Week 7		Change
OPS	.795	+.002
ERA	5.10	+ .07
WHIP	1.52	+ .03
uERA	.674	- .031
Run Diff	-8	+5

Not much change in the team stats this week. 

Matchup

Nashville comes to town today and the Bulls are tied with them for 5th place, 8 games back from Norfolk. It looks like their pitching is significantly better than the Bulls as a team. So it's likely to come down to day-by-day performances.

Matchup: Bulls vs Nashville, May 16, 2023
As of May 16, 2023	W-L	Rk	RDiff	OPS	ERA	WHIP	uERA
Durham Bulls (Rays)	20-18	5	-8	.795	5.10	1.52	0.67
Nashville Sounds (Brewers)	20-18	5	18	.791	3.89	1.32	0.65
RDiff-Run differential;  Rk - Rank in International League; WHIP - Walks/Hits per Inning; uERA-unearned runs per 9 innings