In his last start Vladimir Gutierrez went off for the Louisville Bats. The right-handed pitcher allowed one run over 6.0 innings against Lehigh Valley. He set a season high with 10 strikeouts, allowed just 2 hits, and walked 2 batters. Gutierrez matched the strikeout total from his previous four starts combined on the day and the start goes down as his most dominant of the season. And while he did get the award for Pitcher of the Week, his performance at the plate may have helped break any close conversations on who to vote for, too.
Vladimir Gutierrez entered the game with four total hits in his career. He had 40 career at-bats. But in his first trip to the plate led off the bottom of the third inning and he unloaded on the first pitch he saw, crushing the ball into left-center field and over the fence.
PITCHERS ? WHO ? RAKE ?
Back to back nights with a HR by our starting pitcher! pic.twitter.com/4dcvGN6jHv
— Louisville Bats (@LouisvilleBats) August 15, 2019
It was not only the first home run of the career for Vladimir Gutierrez, it was his first extra-base hit. He would add an RBI single in his next trip to the plate, bouncing one over the drawn in infield. Two hits, a home run, and two RBI on a day in which you also struck out 10 batters? There aren’t going to be too many days that are better than that one from an individual pitcher.