Joe Maddon calls Hellickson-Buehrle match-up “The Tortoise and the Hare”

By Bill BaerAug 23, 2014, 1:24 PM EDT
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The Rays and Blue Jays just kicked off Saturday afternoon’s contest, with Jeremy Hellickson starting for the Rays and Mark Buehrle for the Blue Jays. The two are quite different in their approaches, as Buehrle leads all starters with the shortest time between pitches, at 17.3 seconds per FanGraphs. If he had enough innings to qualify on the leaderboard, Hellickson would be dead last at 26.9 seconds.

Rays manager Joe Maddon had an interesting way to describe the match-up, per Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune:

Zac Rosscup throws immaculate inning, lands on DL

Abbie Parr/Getty Images
By Bill BaerAug 20, 2018, 10:07 PM EDT
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A day after throwing an immaculate inning — getting through an inning on three consecutive strikeouts with nine pitches — against the Mariners, Dodgers reliever Zac Rosscup was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a left calf strain. The move made room on the 25-man roster for Kenley Jansen, who is back after missing some time due to an irregular heartbeat.

Rosscup pitched the ninth inning of Sunday’s 12-1 win over the Mariners. He struck out Kyle Seager, Ryon Healy, and Cameron Maybin on three pitches each. Rosscup is the fourth pitcher to throw an immaculate inning this season, joining Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, and German Marquez. 2018’s four immaculate innings is still far behind 2017’s record of eight.

Rosscup has pitched only 6 2/3 innings in the majors this year. He has yielded five runs (all earned) on seven hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts. He missed a significant amount of time earlier this season due to a blister on his left middle finger.