Howard’s End: No-No to the SAL Title Round

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After months of ugly, muggy weather it is finally beginning to feel like fall. And when it’s fall, that can only mean one thing: playoff baseball. The minor league playoffs are underway, and Lakewood would host the White Sox affiliate Kannapolis in Game 2 of the South Atlantic League’s North Division championship. Lakewood won Game 1 in the ninth inning on Wednesday night in Kannapolis, meaning a victory would push Lakewood into the SAL championship. And on a comfortable Friday night in early September, nobody was more comfortable than Spencer Howard.

Spencer Howard’s season has had it peaks and valleys up. After starting well in April (19 IP, 1.89 ERA, 29/2 K/BB), he would go into a nearly two month stretch of where most of his starts were average or worse. From 5/3 to 6/22, Howard had was 1-6 with a 7.75 ERA, .844 OPS, 37/17 K/BB in 33.2 innings. But since that point Spencer had been dominant, allowing just 2 ER or less in 9 of his last 11 regular season starts (2.08 ERA, .543 OPS, 81/21 K/BB in 59.1 innings). With all that going for him and what was on the line, Howard would turn in a lights out performance. So let me break it down for y’all:

1st Inning

Spencer would begin his outing strike out Tyler Frost (R) on a 97 mph fastball that Frost seemed fooled on that ran back a bit towards the outside corner. 1B Jake Scheiner would make a nice diving play to his right to catch the second out. Steele Walker (L) would work a six pitch battle but got caught looking on fastball that hit black inside. Spencer’s first inning took 12 pitches (10 strikes), and he was throwing bullets. He threw ten fastballs ranging from 95-98 mph with two change-ups he tried to get outside on Walker.

2nd Inning

Spencer had to work a bit on the first two batters of the inning throwing 14 total pitches, before getting a groundout on the first pitch to the last batter. In a six pitch battle with Tate Blackman (R) he threw predominantly fastballs (one change-up), but was changing his eye level with each pitch before getting him to swing at 96 up and out of the zone. Craig Dedelow (L) would have a heck of an eight pitch battle and Spencer would throw three change-ups and one curve in that mix. His last two pitches in the at-bats were both fastballs in the same spot: on the outside corner, belt high. Dedelow would would foul off the first one, but the second one had just a little more run to where he swung and missed.

15 pitch inning; ten fastball 96-98 mph, four change-ups (79-85 mph), one curveball 78 mph

3rd Inning

This would end up being Howard’s most stressful inning, but not of his own doing. The first batter would reach on an error by Scheiner, who let it go under his glove. They would end up getting the lead runner on a high chop to 3B for a fielder’s choice, then Ramon Beltre (R) would work the longest at-bat of the night. Howard tried to get him on the outer third a couple of time and a change-up down (wild pitch also thrown on curve), but got him swinging at 97 inside at the letters for the second out. After a walk on five pitches to Frost, Luis Curbelo (R) hit a short hop to SS Nick Maton that he bobbled and couldn’t find allowing everybody to be safe with the bases loaded. On the 26th pitch of the inning, Howard threw a change-up to Walker that was middle and just around the belt that Walker scorched. But Scheiner, who was close to the RF line, took a couple of steps and snared hot shot, preventing any damage.

26 pitches; 19 fastballs (93-97 mph), six change-ups (80-83 mph), one curveball 76 mph

4th Inning

Howard’s fourth inning of work wouldn’t be as eventful as the previous inning. He would begin by getting Blackman staring at curveball that dropped in the middle of the plate for his sixth strikeout. That pitch had tremendous spin and tilt. He left a hanging change-up on the outer third to Dedelow where it would be hit deep but would be caught by CF Simon Muzziotti about 10 feet in front of the track towards RF. He would then get a pop-up into foul territory on a high change-up, where his batterymate Rodlofo Duran caught the ball in front of the Lakewood dugout.

Nine pitches; five fastballs (94-95 mph), two change-ups (82 mph), one curveball (76 mph), one cutter (86 mph)

5th Inning

Howard would once again throw less than ten pitches in the fifth, needing just eight to get through. He would strike out Michael Hickman (L) on three pitches, getting him to swing at a curve inside that would hit the dirt. Duran actually had a good block on that one to keep it in front of him. Howard would get a pop-up to 2B and a groundout to short to finish off the inning. Now two times through the lineup, one of the keys to Howard’s success at this point in time was that he had thrown a jaw-dropping 17/18 first pitch strikes. For a pitcher with some shaky command at times, this was fairly impressive

Eight pitches; six fastballs (90-96 mph), one change-up (80 mph), one curveball (78 mph)

6th Inning

This was an inning where it became a little more evident that Howard’s fastball velocity would be wearing down. This would end up being the first inning where he didn’t throw 95+ mph. This would also be the final time he would throw 10+ pitches in an inning as well. Howard got ahead 1-2 to the leadoff man before a curveball got away and he hit Frost on the hip. The very next pitch to Curbelo was a 91 mph fastball that cut down around the middle of the plate that would be chopped to Maton for a 6-4-3 double play. Walker would step and this matchup would go six pitches, making all three of his at-bats to this point 5+ pitches. Howard thought he had him looking at a curve on the outer half that hit black, but it wasn’t called. He then went back to it with a curve that dropped out of the zone down the middle that he got Walker to whiff at. Again Duran with a good smother to keep it in front and throw to 1B to end the inning.

11 pitches; seven fastballs (91-94 mph), one change-up (81 mph), three curveballs (76-78 mph)

7th Inning

With Muzziotti driving in the first run of the game on an RBI single to left in the bottom half of the 6th, Howard would now trot back out having thrown 81 pitches thru six innings. With nine outs to get, you would think that if Howard got too close to 100 pitches, that they would remove him from the ball game. So in order for Howard to begin the 9th inning, he would likely have to be under 95 pitches (season high pitch count 98). Howard would get a four pitch pop-up in foul ground caught by Scheiner, and then throw a three pitch strikeout to Dedelow that would be all non-fastballs, finishing him off looking on a curveball that spun and dropped big in the middle of the plate. After that it took two pitches to get Carlos Perez (R) to ground out to Maton. This put Howard at 90 pitches, so at this point it would seem unlikely that Howard would pitch in the ninth.

Nine pitches; three fastballs (92-93 mph), three change-ups (80-81), two curveballs (77 mph), one slider (85 mph)

8th Inning

Howard would essentially need the quickest inning he could possibly get in order to have a chance to sniff the 9th inning. Luckily with Kannapolis’ back against the well, their hitters would help Howard out. Hickman would swing at a first pitch fastball with some sink and run on it and flied out to center. Two pitches later, Johan Cruz (R) hit a high chopper that looked like it would go over 3B Jose Antequera’s head. But Antequera, who stands at 5’10” but appears smaller than that, jumped up pretty high to snare the ball and threw a low sinking bullet to a stretched out Scheiner at 1B to get the second out. The very next pitch, Beltre would hit a shallow fly ball to Jhailyn Ortiz in right to end the inning. Howard’s four pitch inning, which were all fastballs (91-95 mph), put him at 94 pitches and an opportunity to go back out there for the 9th.

9th Inning

Lakewood had a chance to extend their lead in the bottom half of the 8th, but Matt Kroon would be thrown out at home plate on Antequera’s bloop single to RF. Clinging to a 1-0 lead, Lakewood just needed three more outs away to send them to the next round. So manager Marty Malloy went back to Howard to finish off the game. More than likely if a runner reached, he would be taken out. The first batter was Frost, who’d he get whiffing at a fastball sinking down and in before getting him to fly out the next pitch to Matt Vierling in left. One out. Curbelo stepped up and he would get him to swing at a 1-0 fastball high and cutting away, where Duran would catch it in front of the Lakewood dugout.  Two out. All that remained was Steele Walker. Already at his career high of 98 pitches, Howard’s adrenaline kicked in and he ended up reaching back for what could be his final matchup.

First pitch: 96 inside, check swing, 1-0.

Second pitch: 94 middle down out of the zone, 2-0

Third pitch: 96 running back over the middle of the plate, fouled back, 2-1

Fourth pitch: 94 knocks Walker off the plate, 3-1

On pitch #103, Howard took a deep breath kicked back and delivered a 96 mph fastball cutting towards the inner third belt high. Walker swung and hit it in the air to leftfield. Vierling barely had to take any steps, camped under the ball and recorded the final out. It was over. Spencer Howard, the 2017 2nd round pick from San Luis Obispo, CA, became just the third Blueclaw ever to throw a complete game no-no (7 Lakewood no-hitters overall), joining Gavin Floyd (2002) and Nick Fanti (2017).

Spencer Howard’s final line: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 9 K, HBP, 103 pitches (73 strikes)

Duran leapt into Howard’s arms as the rest of their teammates streamed towards the pitcher’s mound to celebrate two accomplishments. Lakewood was moving on to the South Atlantic League championship round, but more importantly it was done in style. Lakewood will head to Lexington on Monday to begin their best of five series, where they will look to win their fourth South Atlantic League crown. But last night continued to showcase how Lakewood got to this point. Their pitching staff, from the starters to the relievers, have kept opponents to low scoring night in and night out. And with just one run crossing the plate for the offense, Howard took care of the rest. He changed eye levels with his fastball all night, threw strikes early in counts and had a good change-up and curveball throughout the night. And when he started to get tired, Kannapolis helped him out swinging early in counts late in the game. There’s plenty of time to debate this offseason what Howard’s ceiling maybe (a #2/3 starter, a backend starter, a reliever?). But for now, I’ll just appreciate what occurred on Friday night. Congrats to Lakewood and a bigger congratulations to Spencer Howard.

Stats and Video from Spencer Howard

  • 73 fastballs (70.9%), 19 change-ups (18.4%), 9 curveballs (8.7%), one cutter and one slider (both 0.97%)
    • 0/20 on fastballs; 5 K (four swinging, one looking), BB, reach on error, six groundouts, four flyouts, three pop-ups (foul outs), one lineout on fastballs
    • 0/4 on curveballs; 4 K (two swinging, two looking), HBP
    • 0/4 on change-ups; reach on error, lineout, flyout, pop-up
  • 24/30 first pitch strikes (22 on fastballs, one cutter, one change-up); six first pitch balls (three on change-ups, three on fastballs)
  • First pitch in play: 0/5; Ahead 0-1: 0/16, 9 K; Behind 1-0: 0/5, BB, HBP
  • Six groundouts + two errors, five flyouts, four pop-ups
  • LH hitters: 0/12, 6 K (two swinging, one looking on fastballs; two swinging, one looking on curveballs), reach on error, BB, HBP; RH hitters: 0/16, 3 K (two swinging on fastballs; one looking on curveball), reach on error
  • 15 swinging strikes (14.6%); ten fastballs, three change-ups, two curveballs
  • Eight at-bats of five or more pitches (0/7, 5 K, BB); 12 at-bats of two pitches or less (0/12, reach on error)