D-backs’ Patrick Corbin continues his breakout season
May 21, 2013, 8:12 PM | Updated: 8:26 pm
Every time Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin takes the mound, the buzz gets a little bit louder.
Corbin, in his first full big league season, has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball in 2013, yet hasn’t garnered the attention that Mets’ phenom Matt Harvey or St. Louis rookie Shelby Miller have received.
That’s slowly changing.
After his dominating performance Monday night in which he allowed just three hits in a complete game 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies, Corbin’s legend is continuing to grow.
Corbin is now 7-0 with a 1.44 ERA — second in all of baseball to only Dodgers’ southpaw Clayton Kershaw.
About that buzz getting louder…
All of these other pitchers are getting love and getting shown all over @espn @espn_bbtn where is the love for @patrickcorbin11 come on now
— Tyler Skaggs (@TylerSkaggs37) May 21, 2013
Wow… That @patrickcorbin11 guy is pretty good!!! #corbin4prez
— Tony Sipp (@SippTony) May 21, 2013
Arizona’s Patrick Corbin: 9 starts, all of at least 6 innings, none with more than two earned runs. Only pitcher in MLB who has done that.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) May 21, 2013
Patrick Corbin: 2nd in MLB in ERA, last in coverage.#dbacks twitter.com/MLBMeme/status…
— MLB Memes (@MLBMeme) May 21, 2013
Matt Harvey deserves the attention he’s getting, but don’t forget Patrick Corbin who’s 7-0 with a 1.44 ERA for Arizona!
— The Sports Report (@TheSportsRPT) May 21, 2013
How special is the streak Patrick Corbin is on? Roy Halladay has never had one like it. cbsprt.co/16M8gsF
— Danny Knobler (@DannyKnoblerCBS) May 21, 2013
Good nugget from @danielrathman on Patrick Corbin: 1st pitcher ever to K 10 or more & go 9 IP at Coors Field in under 100 pitches (97)
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) May 21, 2013
And yes, even another dominant D-backs southpaw is taking notice.
Hey Lefty @patrickcorbin11 keep up the great work!!
— Randy Johnson (@RJ51Photos) May 21, 2013
There are a lot of reasons for Corbin’s emergence in 2013 after a very average rookie season a year ago. Notably, his performance against left-handed hitters.
In 2012, lefties weren’t all that intimidated by Corbin’s repertoire, and hit a healthy .325 (26-for-80) against him.
This season, Corbin has made lefties look utterly helpless — they’re hitting just .106 (5-for-47) against him. Only Milwaukee’s Norichika Aoki, Robinson Cano of the Yankees, Philadelphia’s Domonic Brown, San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford and San Diego pitcher Clayton Richard have been able to get hits from the left side while facing Corbin.
But it really hasn’t mattered what batter’s box a hitter is in against Corbin — right handers are only hitting .221 versus the 23-year-old.
As Danny Knobler of CBS Sports points out, Corbin is in the midst of a historic streak. He’s only the second pitcher in the last 98 years to begin a campaign with nine straight starts of six-plus innings and two or less runs against. Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez was the other to do it when he reeled off 12 in a row in 2010.
Corbin will look to stretch the streak to 10 straight when he faces the San Diego Padres Sunday at Chase Field.
And in case you were wondering, Corbin baffled the Padres the first time he faced them May 4 — allowing just one run and five hits in seven solid innings during an 8-1 win at Petco Park.
