My Two Cents: Wednesday Like Opening Day All Over Again With Great Pitching Matchups
There are many treats on Opening Day, the first day of the baseball season after a long and lonely winter. And when it comes to the pitching matchups, it's always good on good, best on best, great on great.
And then, five days later, when many of those aces are ready for their second starts, we get a lot of great matchups, again. It's almost like a second Opening Day. That's what is happening on Wednesday, where he have five game that pair up Day 1 starters.
Most of them are day games, too, which also adds to the Opening Day feel. Several stars are looking to keep their hot streaks going, including Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees, Shane McClanahan of the Tampa Bay Rays and the two Chicago aces, Marcus Stroman of the Cubs and Dyland Cease of the White Sox.
Here are the best pitching matchups of Opening Day starters on Wednesday:
- Aaron Nola (Philadelphia Phillies) vs. Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees), 1:05 p.m. ET
- Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay Rays) vs. Patrick Corbin (Washington Nationals), 1:05 p.m. ET
- Marcus Stroman (Chicago Cubs) vs. Hunter Green (Cincinnati Reds), 12:35 p.m. Et
- Logan Webb (San Francisco Giants) vs. Dylan Cease (Chicago White Sox), 2:10 p.m. ET
- Alek Manoah (Toronto Blue Jays) vs. Zach Grienke (Kansas City Royals), 7:40 p.m. ET
Gerrit Cole struck out 11 San Francisco batters on Opening Day, becoming the first New York Yankees starting pitcher to ever crack double-digit strikeouts on the first day of the season. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)
Here's a quick note you should know about all 10 of these aces, ranking them from No. 1 to No. 10 based on their first start:
- GERRIT COLE: New York starter Gerrit Cole did something last Thursday that had never been done in the long and storied history of the Yankees franchise. He pitched six scoreless innings and struck out 11 San Francisco Giants hitters, becoming the first Yankee to reach double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day. He allowed only three hits and the Yankees won 5-0./
- SHANE McCLANAHAN: Tampa Bay left-hander Shane McClanahan, last year's All-Star Game starter for the American League, looked the part on Thursday. He went six scoreless, allowing just four hits in the Rays' 4-0 win. The Rays still haven't lost, and are 5-0 heading into McClanahan's second start this afternoon at Washington.
- MARCUS STROMAN: Chicago Cubs starter Marcus Stroman silenced that potent Milwaukee lineup, pitching six scoreless inning and striking out eight. He allowed only three hits in the Cubs' 4-0 win.
- DYLAN CEASE: Chicago White Sox starter Dylan Cease got the unenviable task of facing the World Series champion Houston Astros, but he racked up 10 strikeouts and allowed just one run and two hits in 6 1/3 innings in Chicago's 3-2 victory.
- ZACH GRIENKE: Veteran righty Zach Grienke allowed two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings of work, and took the loss against Minnesota, which shut out the Royals 2-0.
- LOGAN WEBB: San Francisco starter Logan Webb gave up four runs in a loss to the New York Yankees, but he also had 12 strikeouts, which set a Giants' Opening Day record.
- ALEK MANOAH: Toronto ace Alek Manoah got knocked around in his debut, giving up five runs and nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings at St. Louis. Toronto rallied with two in the ninth for a 10-9 win.
- HUNTER GREENE: Cincinnati starter Hunter Green had eight strikeouts in just 3 1/3 innings of work, but he also gave up three runs and five hits in taking a no-decision in Pittsburgh's 5-4 win.
- AARON NOLA: Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola got chased in a nine-run Texas Rangers fourth inning. He gave up five runs on four hits and two walks, and the Phillies lost 11-7
- PATRICK CORBIN: Washington starter Patrick Corbin got chased after three innings. He gave up four runs and seven hits and threw 85 pitches to get those nine outs.
