Homer Bailey: Pirates Had No-No Chance

Courtesy: ESPN.com

In 109 career starts heading into Friday night, Homer Bailey was 37-33 with a 4.59 ERA. In those 109 starts, he had one shutout, way back on May 12, 2010 against, who else, the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Friday night, Bailey earned his second career shutout while tossing the seventh no-hitter of the 2012 MLB season. It shouldn’t be too shocking that it came on the road, and, especially, against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

First of all, over his career, Bailey had been much better on the road:

Home: 18-19, 5.13 ERA, 60 starts, 344 innings, 286:130 K:BB, 52 HR allowed, 1.49 WHIP

Road: 19-14, 3.95 ERA, 49 starts, 287 innings, 204:91 K:BB, 26 HR allowed, 1.29 WHIP

In five starts at PNC Park in his career, home of the Pirates, heading into Friday, Bailey was 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA, 36 innings, 21:11 K:BB, zero home runs allowed, and a 0.92 WHIP.

Now, Bailey is a ridiculous 5-0, with a 1.40 ERA in 45 innings, posting a 31:12 K:BB, still having allowed zero home runs, and a slick 0.76 WHIP in his six career starts in the Steel City.

Bailey’s absurd home and road splits will probably be a concern for Cincinnati Reds fans, who will have to wait and see what happens in the Queen City, during the NLDS, when Bailey foots the rubber at Great American Ballpark against the San Francisco Giants in a little over a week. If only they could move the game to Pittsburgh, the Reds may be better off.