Run Support Winners and Losers Through July

Now that the month is over, it's time to look at the run support winners and losers thus far in baseball. For reports on previous months, click here, here and here.

Pitchers With the Best Run Support

Jesse Chavez has maintained his seat atop the run support leaders. His 8-7 record is still subpar, considering he is getting almost six runs per game. Over the course of July, Chavez has struggled with a 5.20 ERA. Although three of his five starts went well, the other two were rough. The Oakland righty gave up five runs in five innings against Detroit and six runs in 5.1 innings against Houston. Since June, Chavez has had a 4.21 ERA, making it clear that he is starting to slow down, so the A’s need to continue providing him a lot of runs.

Although Scott Kazmir might now be the third or fourth starter since the A’s have acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester, he has continued to pitch like an ace all season. The 2014 All-Star had a 1.38 ERA over the course of July while going 3-0. He went seven innings in three of his four starts, only going five innings while letting up two runs in his last start. Over the course of his 26 innings, Kazmir struck out 25 batters and only walked 6, while hitters barely hit over the Mendoza line.

Wei-Yin Chen has finally decided to cash in on the run support, going 4-0 in July. His 2.92 ERA was his best of any month, and he cut down a lot on his previous month’s home run total, from eight in June to three last month. Chen’s best start was his most recent, where he went eight innings and shut out the Mariners, and the Orioles provided him with four runs.

Jorge de la Rosa had one of his better months this season. In addition to going 3-0, de la Rosa had a 2.92 ERA and .231 batting average against teams in July. The Colorado lefty didn’t have one hiccup in his five starts, logging a quality start in each outing, and only letting up a three runs in one of those outings. Four of the five teams he faced were in the top half of the league in terms of runs per game and all were in the top half of the league in OBP.

Travis Wood has climbed his way up the ladder to be on this list for the first time this season. Unlike most of these starters, he has had an awful month and hasn’t been able to cash in on the starts, going 0-3. His 6.89 ERA is his worst monthly total to this point, although his May ERA was 6.62. Wood had one good start against the Cardinals but struggle against everyone else. The Cubs’ lefty had two starts where he received seven runs in support and one where he got 16 against the Red Sox.

Pitchers With the Worst Run Support

Eric Stults is back on this list, but he had an okay month at 4.70 and a .244 opponent’s batting average. He had a perfect K/9 for the month, but let up four home runs, three coming against Colorado. Stults pitched better than his numbers show, and only had one bad start in his last outing, never letting up more than three earned runs in his other starts.

Although he was 0-4 in July, Ryan Vogelsong threw fairly well this month, it also didn’t help the Giants were shut out in all four of those losses. He had one start where he let up three in three innings, but he threw three quality starts over his five this month. Vogelsong had a 3.90 in July, striking out 23 in 27.2 innings and letting up just one home run. His worst number from the month might the .308 batting average against, but that is inflated largely because of his one bad start where he let up 11 hits in those three innings.

Ian Kennedy has been able to overcome San Diego’s offensive woes, winning three of his five starts. His 2.53 ERA and .205 batting average have helped him shut down hitters. Only one of his outings was not a quality start, and his best outing came against the Dodgers, where he went eight innings and only let up one run. Kennedy has been able to find his best stuff in July and looks to build upon it moving forward into August.

After getting dished to the AL, Jeff Samardzija still finds himself on the wrong end of this list. However, since he left the Cubs he has won just as many games with the A’s as he did in the Windy City this year, and has only suffered one loss. Oakland’s ace will soon be off this list, especially after getting 25 runs of support in through his last three outings. Samardzija had a good month, but not his best, with a 3.19 ERA and letting up five homers. However, he did hold hitters to a .203 average and only walked four batters in the process.