Mike Leake did it all for the Reds Thursday

There was a small schedule of games for Thursday night, but some of the more reliable pitchers in the early part of the season had rough starts. Fantasy owners need to be able to realize which players are just having good starts and which are going to be viable fantasy options through the season. This is the daily update for May 1, 2015.

Recap

Shelby Miller’s solid start for Braves erased by Reds’ slugging and Mike Leake
Miller was very good for the Braves last night, pitching seven innings, allowing two runs, striking out nine batters while walking three, but Mike Leake and the Reds were just better. Leake pitched eight shutout innings, only allowing two hits and two walks, and hit the second of back-to-back home runs off of Miller in the seventh inning. Leake has allowed five earned runs in his past 23 innings and has pitched seven or more innings in each of his past four starts. For those that participate in daily fantasy, the fact that he is able to get deep into games alone makes him a worthy target. Todd Frazier also homered for the Reds, his seventh of the season, and his OPS is now .890.

Astros continue to roll
Jose Altuve had three hits, Scott Feldman worked seven innings, Evan Gattis had two RBI, and the Astros earned an extra-innings win over the Mariners, their seventh straight victory and 11th in 12 games. Altuve may be one of the most valuable players in fantasy baseball right now, as he is a 2B with a .900 OPS, .367 BA, 16 RBI, and 9 SB. Furthermore, during their winning streak, Astros starters have had quality starts in six of the seven games. A team that was fantasy irrelevant for years, the Astros now have at least 11 players that are worth fantasy consideration. Jake Marisnick has also been a revelation, as he has a seven-game hitting streak during which he’s totaled five SB, five extra-base hits, and five RBI.

Chris Sale shelled by Twins
Sale had a good start to the season coming off of the disabled list, but he had a dismal three-inning, eight-run performance against the Twins on Thursday.  This caps back-to-back starts where Sale was not sharp. He allowed only two runs in seven innings against the Royals last Thursday, but only had two strikeouts and allowed nine hits. Sale allowed five runs or more only once in 26 starts last season, so this may have just been a blip on the radar. He’s limited his walks and has 20 strikeouts in 22 innings. On the other hand, he has allowed 27 hits, so there could be reason for concern. Sale has not looked like an SP1 this season, but could be a prime buy-low candidate.

Alfredo Simon has first bad outing of season
Simon was cruising through the early part of the season, allowing only five earned runs and 22 hits in his first 27 1/3 innings, but he allowed nine hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Royals on Thursday. It would be unfair to discount the Royals’ offense, with contributions from Eric Hosmer’s two-run home run and RBI from Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez. Still, Simon was not sharp yesterday, as he only threw 45.8% first-pitch strikes. Simon started his Tigers career with four straight victories, and will still be aided by the potent Tigers lineup, so do not drop him yet. He is a good back-of-the-rotation option in all formats. Also consider that he had six strikeouts yesterday, his first outing of 2015 where he had more than one strikeout per inning.

Premier matchup in Mets-Nationals is lackluster
On face value, a matchup of Jacob deGrom and Stephen Strasburg seemed like a great one involving a pair of fantasy aces. The result was less than that, as neither pitcher lasted beyond the sixth inning. Strasburg earned the victory after pitching 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out seven batters, but he still has a 4.60 ERA on the season, and has pitched six innings or less in four of his five starts. His WHIP has climbed to 1.57 this season, and batters are hitting .306 off of him. Meanwhile, deGrom has seen his outstanding start to 2015 go sour in his past two appearances. After allowing two earned runs and 22 baserunners in his first 19 1/3 innings of the season, he has allowed nine earned runs and 17 baserunners in his past 10 1/3 innings. He has seen his strikeouts per nine and ground ball/fly ball ratios drop as well. He had a 7.9 strikeouts per nine and 1.15 ground ball/fly ball ratio in his first 19 1/3 innings with 5.22 strikeouts per nine and 0.50 ground ball/fly ball ratio in his past 10 1/3 innings pitched.

What to watch for

Jon Lester looks to get his 2015 season going against the Brewers on Friday, while Anthony DeSclafani hopes to continue his outstanding start. The premier matchup of the night, is the Mets-Nationals, pitting potential NL Cy Young candidates Matt Harvey and Max Scherzer against one another. Harvey is 4-0 and has 31 strikeouts and three walks through 26 2/3 innings this season with a 0.94 WHIP. Scherzer has been a hard-luck loser (1-2 record), but has a 1.26 ERA, 29 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings, with a 0.84 WHIP.

Chris Zolli is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Chris, check out his archive and follow him @thezman2010.