By the numbers: Patrick Corbin’s start in 2013
May 5, 2013, 5:00 PM | Updated: May 6, 2013, 1:26 pm
The Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitching staff — in particular the bullpen — has been taken to task of late, but it hasn’t been all bad news for Charles Nagy and Co.
On Saturday night, Patrick Corbin recorded his team-high fourth victory — good for second-most in the National League with Adam Wainwright, Matt Harvey and Shelby Miller. Corbin’s hot start is particularly of note considering he wasn’t even guaranteed a job to start spring training.
And while he might be considered the No. 5 starter, he has pitched like anything but so far in 2013.
0: The D-backs are a perfect 6-0 in Corbin’s starts this season, and the left-hander has ended each outing in line for a victory.
1.80: Corbin’s 1.80 ERA is sixth-best in the National League, not bad when you consider guys like Jordan Zimmermann, Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner are among the only few better than him.
3: Arizona’s 23-year-old hurler has been able to go deeper into games this season because of his command. Corbin has recorded one walk or fewer three different times this season. His season-high in free passes is only three.
4: Corbin’s start is impressive on many levels, but maybe the biggest eye-opening element is the fact that four of his six starts have come in passionate baseball towns like Milwaukee, New York City and San Francisco. He has a 1.50 road ERA.
5.01:: Fair or not, Corbin will always be linked to Dan Haren — the man he and Tyler Skaggs were essentially traded for back in July 2010. This season, Haren is 2-3 with a 5.01 ERA with the Washington Nationals.
6: In all six of his starts this season, Corbin has gone at least six innings while allowing two runs or less.
32: The left-hander is tied for the team lead with 32 strikeouts, which is equivalent to 7.2 per nine innings. Ironically, Corbin had the same exact strikeout ratio in 2012.
40: It’s still very early, but it’s very rare to have a back-end guy lead the team in innings pitched. Through six turns, Corbin is doing just that with 40 innings under his belt already.
71.5: Heading into Saturday night’s start, Corbin had the second-best first-pitch strike rate in the NL at 71.5 percent.
2008: The last time a D-backs pitcher started 4-0 was Brandon Webb back in 2008. Webb went on to win his first nine decisions. Josh Collmenter won his first three decisions in 2011, and Wade Miley did the same back in 2012.
