PHILADELPHIA — Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Francisco Liriano drew rave reviews after pitching eight shutout innings to beat the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night, 4-1.
His manager, Clint Hurdle, said it “could’ve been his best start by far this season,” after Liriano allowed four hits, struck out a season-high 12 and walked two to win his second straight start.
His catcher, Russell Martin, said it was “obviously the best (he’s) seen him in a long time.”
The opposing pitcher, A.J. Burnett, a former Pirate, agreed that it was the best he has seen Liriano in a while.
“When his off-speed is on,” he said, “he has that kind of night.”
Liriano used his fastball to get ahead of hitters, and his secondary pitches to put them away. Ten of his punchouts came on sliders, the other two on change-ups.
Liriano, 5-10 with a 3.53 ERA this season, retired 10 straight hitters between the third and sixth innings, and ran his scoreless-inning streak to 16, offering evidence that he is back to where he was last season, when he went 16-8.
He was 1-7 with a 4.72 ERA before the All-Star break this season, but since then is 4-3 with a 2.22 ERA to improve to 5-10 overall. He has been particularly effective over his last four starts, going 2-0 with a 0.67 ERA.
“Lately he’s been back to where he left off last year — just dominating everybody,” Martin said. “Good time for that.”