NINE TO THRIVE
Sox end 9- game skid with spirited effort against surging Cubs
Since coming from the White Sox to the Cubs, Jose Quintana has made two quality starts, with one way to look at them being three earned runs allowed and two victories in 13 innings.
Another way is by game score, a measure of pitching dominance. Quintana’s first Cubs start— seven innings, no runs, three hits, 12 strikeouts and no walks against the Orioles— scores at 83. That’s the second- highest for a Cubs pitcher this season after Jon Lester’s 85 in a 4- 1 complete- game victory May 23 against the Giants.
Quintana’s second Cubs start, a 5- 3 victory Sunday against the Cardinals, scored 60, still an above- average start.
Each starting pitcher starts with 50 points and moves up or down from there. One point is added for each out recorded, one point for each strikeout and two points for each inning completed beyond the fourth.
One point is subtracted for each walk, two points for each hit, four points for each earned run allowed and two points for each unearned run allowed.
Let’s use Quintana’s first Cubs start and walk through how the math works. Start with 50 points. Add 21 points because he got 21 outs in seven innings.
Add six points because he completed three more innings after the fourth, each worth two points.
Add 12 points, one for each strikeout.
The 50- point base and the additions bring the total to 89, but then come the subtractions.
Subtract six points, two for each of his three hits allowed.
Quintana allowed no runs or walks. That left a game score of 83, tied for the 17th- best in the National League this season. The league high was 95 by the Marlins’ Edinson Volquez in his no- hitter June 3 against the Diamondbacks.
The all- time game- score leader for a nine- inning game is the Cubs’ KerryWood, with 105 in his 20- strikeout one- hitter against the Astros in 1998.
An average NL start in 2017 has had a game score of just more than 50. Of 1,470 starts through games Sunday, 734 had a game score of 52 or higher and 736 were at 51 or lower.
It’s a measure of the Cubs’ firsthalf struggles that 44 of their 88 starts before the All- Star break scored 50 or lower. In all of 2016, only 42 starts scored 50 or lower.
Before the break, 10 of Lester’s 17 starts scored 50 or lower, including a team- low nine in a 14- 3 loss July 9 to the Pirates. Jake Arrieta’s low was 15, and he also had a 25 and a 26 among the six of his 18 starts that were 50 or lower.
Since the break, Lester has scored 78 and 72 in his two starts, and each of Arrieta’s starts were in the 60s. John Lackey scored 60 and Mike Montgomery a subpar 37 and a strong 68.
The post- break sample is too small to say the problem has been fixed. But with Quintana added, the game scores have been looking up.