Randy Wells Shuts Down Atlanta

Randy Wells did something that Cubs’ pitchers had previously found difficult last night. He locked down the Atlanta Braves in rather generic fashion.

Wells’ line is anything but spectacular. He struck out one batter and walked two, but he didn’t allow a home run (or a run of any kind) in large part because very few balls were hit into the air. Of the 21 balls put into play against him, 13 – or over 60% — were hit on the ground. Combine that with 60% strikes and it’s pretty clear that Wells’ game plan was simply to pound the zone with his sinker and let his infielders do the rest.

Pitchfx has 35 of Wells’ 97 pitches classified as sinkers, an additional 20 as four-seam fastballs, 23 more as change-ups, and the final 19 as sliders. Roughly three-fourths of his sinkers went for strikes of the called variety, since only one was swung at and missed. In fact, the only pitch that Braves’ batters had a hard time connecting with was his change-up, which generated an impressive five empty swings.

The Braves only managed six hits, with a Martin Prado double being the only of extra base variety. They definitely had some chances though. In the second, with runners on first and third, the Braves had the unfortunate coincidence of pitcher Tommy Hanson going to the plate. He would fly out, but the Bravos would threaten again the very next inning, as the bases would be loaded for Troy Glaus. On a 1-1 pitch, Glaus rolled to third and became the victim of a double play.

The Braves’ run expectancy at the time was a game high 1.5, they wouldn’t top 1.0 for the remainder of the game, as Sean Marshall, Esmailin Caridad, John Grabow, and Carlos Marmol would combine to shut the door and Wells earned the first victory of the year for the Cubbies.

There are going to be some nights where Wells doesn’t have passable command or movement on his pitches, and that’s fine, because there are also going to be nights like this, when the opposing team pounds the ball into the dirt, only to become one easy out after the next.