Diamondbacks Vs Braves: Breaking Down the Pitching Matchups

Rubby De La Rosa takes the mound against the Braves in game 3. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Game 3: RHP Rubby De La Rosa (10-5 4.35 ERA) vs. RHP Shelby Miller (5-9 2.48 ERA)

In some ways, Rubby De La Rosa has been the best starter for the Diamondbacks this season.

Acquired from the Red Sox in the offseason for Wade Miley, De La Rosa leads the starting staff with 10 wins, and 142.1 IP in 23 starts. Averaging 6.2 innings per start, he is a workhorse.

In other ways, he has been one of the worst starters for the Dbacks. De La Rosa has given up 25 home runs this season tied with Kyle Lohse for the 5th most in baseball. That is not a good stat given he pitches a lot of his games at Chase Field.

Watching his starts is hard. He really has to work just to get to the dugout at the end of the night, yet on most nights he gets the job done.

He has won 4 of his past 5 starts, and in his last 7 starts he is 4-2 with a 4.43 ERA in line with his career ERA and better than his season ERA (4.55).

If De La Rosa is going to have success and give the Dbacks innings, he has to keep the ball down and use his infield defense to get groundball outs. Its that simple.

Nick Markakis faced De La Rosa a lot when Ruby was with Boston, and in 6 AB’s he is hitting .333 with 1 RBI. Cameron Maybin is hitting .600 in 5 AB’s with 2 RBI’s.

When Shelby Miller was with the Cardinals, he was considered one of the best young starters in the MLB, and he has been the ace for the Braves this season.

Miller hasn’t won in his past 15 stats, and he has lost his 8 decisions. In his last 7 starts he has pitched to a respectable 3.16 ERA, and has a 2.48 ERA this season.

The offense hasn’t been very kind to him. His run support average of 2.54 is the lowest in the majors among qualified starters.

Red hot Wellington Castillo has faced Miller 9 times, and is hitting .333 with 1 HR and 2 RBI’s.