Shuts down Cardinals Velazquez (1-2) earned the win over St. Louis on Thursday, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six batters over six scoreless innings. Impact Velasquez turned his left ankle in his previous start against the White Sox on Saturday, though the issue was never considered serious enough to impact his ability to make his scheduled start Thursday. It didn't appear that the ankle bothered the veteran righty at all against the Cardinals, as he picked up his first win and quality start of the campaign while helping Pittsburgh improve to 8-5 with six shutout frames. Velasquez racked up an impressive 18 swinging strikes in the contest, one shy of his career high, per Joe Block of the Pirates' broadcast team. Despite the excellent outing, it's hard to justify Velasquez as a target in fantasy, as he struggled in his first two appearances of the campaign and hasn't posted a season ERA better than 4.12 in any of his nine big-league campaigns to date.
APRIL 14, 2023 • ROTOWIRE
