Colby Lewis started this game, and gave up all three runs to the Indians. Had an decent line if not stellar. 7.1 innings, five hits, three runs. unfortunately, the Rnagers offense didn’t wake up until he was out of the game. Colby left down 3-0. Does it still count as a quality start if you’re losing?
Darren Oliver & Mike Adams followed him, not allowing anything.
On the other side, though, we didn’t have a ton going ourselves. We managed just seven hits for the entire game. But there was a good concentration in the bottom of the eighth, as we threw a five spot up there. The first six batters in the inning reached (walk, single, single, single walk, single). After that, we had a force out, but that was constructive, as it scored a run.
Michael Young also reached 2,000 hits for his career in this game. Was nice that it happened at home. It obviously brings up the question of can he get to 3,000? It’s possible, sure. But he’ll definitely have to play for awhile. He’s 34 at the moment, and there’s 47 more games this season after this one. Figure that would put him conservatively at 3,050 for a career total after the 2011 season. That means he’d need 950 to get to 3,000. Would mean if he sustained 200 hits per season, he’d need to play into the 2016 season to get it. And he’d have to not have any dropoff in hit production to get there. If you play more conservatively, and say he gets regularly 150 hits per season, he’d need to play into the 2018 season to get there, at which point he’d be 41. Not impossible here in the AL, but probably unlikely. We’ll have to see how sustained he can keep hitting over the next 4-5 years to see how realistic of a chance he would have for 3,000.