Royals Pitchers' Duels of 2012 (So Far)

I love pitchers' duels. I suppose all serious baseball fans do. Last night's battle between Luis Mendoza and Zack Greinke may have been the most enjoyable Royals game of the year. It inspired me to go back and find what other games from the year so far I'd consider duels. (My rough guide ended up being games in which both starters had a game score at least in the high 60s.) Here's a brief look at the three I think make the cut:


Pitchers' Duel The First: Game 1, April 6 at Anaheim of Los Angeles which is in California
Royals 0 | Angels 5

I guess season openers should feature more than their share of pitchers' duels with the aces of the staffs going. Chen isn't the true ace that Weaver is, but Royals fans have come to expect the occasional great night from Master Chen every so often. Unfortunately he was lifted with the game still scoreless after just six innings and 75 pitches, assumedly due to not being fully "stretched out" yet. Aaron Crow and Greg Holland yielded five runs in the eighth to end the drama. This remains the game with the highest combined game scores in a Royals game so far this year.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc	WPA
Bruce Chen	6	3	0	0	0	4	0	75	54	70	0.343

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc	WPA
Jered Weaver	8	4	0	0	0	10	0	97	62	84	0.530

Pitchers' Duel The Second: Game 54, June 5 at Kansas City
Twins 0 | Royals 1

Fifty three games without a duel later, C'mon Chen is involved in another, this time with Francisco Liriano (he of the 7.20 ERA going into the game). The Royals scratched out a run in the second inning on a single - fielder's choice - stolen base - single, and that was it for runs in the game.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc	WPA
Francisco Liriano	6	4	1	1	1	8	0	96	59	67	0.166

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc	WPA
Bruce Chen	7	4	0	0	0	5	0	88	62	74	0.459

Pitchers' Duel The Third: Game 59, June 12 at Kansas City
Brewers 1 | Royals 2

This one has the lowest combined game scores on the list, but was probably the most exciting of the three due to the drama of Greinke returning to KC for the first time since the trade and Luis Mendoza shockingly going six innings before yielding a hit.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc	WPA
Zack Greinke	7	6	1	1	0	8	1	105	69	69	0.254

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc	WPA
Luis Mendoza	6	1	1	1	2	4	0	74	46	68	0.122