What a start to the year it has been for Pablo Lopez. The league’s leader in ERA through 4 starts is 3-0 with 23 K in 23.1 innings to start his season. Miami has won all 4 games he has started including some quality wins vs the Cards, Phillies, and Giants. Tonight he matches up against the Diamondbacks in a home matchup. He has 6 or more K in ¾ starts this season vs some great contact teams, the most impressive coming vs St. Louis where he had 9, so I am excited to grab him at 5.5 vs the Diamondbacks.
Pablo takes the mound in a night game at home, which is when he was at his best last season. He had 78 K in 65.1 innings at home last season (1.2 per inning) in Miami. During night games he had 62 K in 53.1 (1.17 per inning).
As for the Diamondbacks, they have been shredded by right handed pitching. They have a .188 team average with 170 K in 628 plate appearances (27.1 K%). We should not have to worry about too much traffic on the basepaths and Pablo has thrown 84+ pitches in his last 3 starts so he should go deep into this game. This is a great spot for Pablo to climb the ladder.
