First, the lowly Astros fired a salvo in their quest to own bragging rights in the state of Texas with their 8-0 win over the Rangers. Lefty Dallas Keuchel, who--frankly--hasn't shown a lot of upside even on his way up from the minors, scattered seven hits in posting his second career complete game (#1 came in his second career start, back on June 23, 2012, against the Cleveland Indians).
The Astros' young infield turned four double plays in support of Keuchel, who has shown a marked improvement in his K/BB over the past 20+ GS.
Next, crafty veteran Bronson Arroyo did his own scattering act for the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, dodging a couple of threats from the Washington Nationals en route to a 3-1 win. Paul Goldschmidt smacked two doubles against Stephen Strasburg and drove in two as the Snakes won their eleventh in nineteen games since starting the year with a 5-18 record.For Arroyo, it was career complete game #16 (363 total GS).
Last, and certainly not least, the Tampa Bay Rays' ace David Price, who'd been seriously up-and-down in his last five starts, persevered in Seattle tonight, battling pitch-for-pitch with the M's Hisashi Iwakuma, who left after eight with a 1-0 lead only to have the bullpen cough up a hairball in the ninth.Price struck out 12 en route to his tenth lifetime complete game. Last year, Price was a league leader in the AL in compete games--with four.
The updated projection for total number of CGs in 2014: 88.
