That was some win for Luis Avilan last night - MLB

I mentioned this in the recaps, but it’s worth mentioning again. Braves reliever Luis Avilan allowed five runs on four hits and a walk in one inning of work last night, squandering the Braves’ 5-1 lead. And, because he was still the pitcher of record when the Braves put up four runs in the top of the ninth, he was awarded with the win. As Jon Weisman points out, Avilan became the first winning pitcher to allow at least five runs in an inning or less in 80 years.

Once again, here’s his line, alongside those of his teammates:

But hey, that’s how wins work. The only time you’ll ever see someone other than the pitcher of record when the final lead was achieved awarded the win is when the starter doesn’t go five innings, thus allowing the official scorer to award it to the most effective overall reliever. But even then they still usually give it to the guy in Avilan’s shoes. The point was moot last night anyway as Ervin Santana pitched six strong innings.

Just another thing to remember the next time some ignoramus goes on about how important and telling pitcher wins are.

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.