Why Keuchel believes better starts coming soon originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Dallas Keuchel is entering uncharted territory in the 11th season of his career. After giving up six runs in just two innings, his ERA ballooned to 7.88 on the yearー by far the highest it’s ever been at this point in a season. His 2.16 WHIP is the highest among all MLB pitchers with at least 30 innings under their belt this year, and it is much, much higher than his 1.282 career mark entering this season.
On Thursday, Red Sox hitters got to Keuchel early and often. From the second pitch of the gameー which Kiké Hernandez sent flying into the left field standsー to the final flyout of the second inning, Keuchel gave up lots of hard contact. It was the type of outing that has you wondering how many he has left with the White Sox.
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But to Keuchel, there’s no doubt that he has something left in the tank.
“I'm in no way shape or form out of this thing,” Keuchel said. “It's been a little bit of a rollercoaster the first month and change and the second half of last year outside of a couple injuries. If people want to write me off, that's OK. I've been written off before, and I'm a competitor and I'm an athlete, and we'll turn the tide. It's not the first time this is back to back starts this has happened. It can turn right back into our favor.”
In Keuchel’s defense, you don’t have to go back very far to find examples of him turning it around following bad stretches. After giving up seven earned runs in one inning of work on April 20th, he rebounded for a four-inning start with no earned runs. Then, after giving up four runs in five innings on May 8th, he strung together two strong starts, giving up only two runs in 11 innings total.
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What’s most frustrating for Keuchel is that he feels like himself. There’s nothing bothering him that would be an indicator for why he’s struggling. But he did have an idea for why things fell apart on Thursday.
“I've been so kind of in love with the two-seam,” Keuchel said. “I had gotten some pretty good weak contact and some lockups inside to the righties with the two-seam throughout the course of the last four starts. But I do need to throw some more sliders. Changeup wasn't very good tonight and that's kind of been a good pitch for me.
“One thing or another, it's going to get there. As much as it hurts tonight and last start, it'll get there. We'll be talking differently soon.”
If we’re not talking differently with Keuchel soon, we may not be talking with him at all as a White Sox starter. Lance Lynn is beginning a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte, and if he doesn't suffer any setbacks, is expected to return to the rotation in a few weeks. In addition, newcomer Johnny Cueto put together back-to-back 6 IP, 0 ER performances in his two starts. If Keuchel doesn’t turn things around, he could be the odd man out when Lynn returns.
And Keuchel understands that, too.
“If I don't do my job then I'm the first to admit, you've got other options.”
