Jacob deGrom had his best start of the season Thursday

Pitching storylines were aplenty on Thursday, and some pitchers made an impact more than just on the mound. The best pitcher in baseball continues to struggle while other aces gain form. This is the daily update for May 22, 2015.

Recap

Jacob DeGrom pitches the best game of his career
deGrom retired 23 straight batters against the Cardinals, pitching eight scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and striking out 11. deGrom had 5.91 ERA from April 24 to May 11, but has allowed six hits and one run in his two starts since, lowing his ERA to 2.75 in 55 2/3 innings. deGrom pitched seven innings or more for the third time this season and has a 1.11 WHIP and .238 batting average against. This is the fourth game this season that deGrom has had five more strikeouts than walks, as he now has a 4.15 K:BB ratio. deGrom is a weak-SP2 or strong-SP3 and is a must add in dynasty leagues.

David Price fans a dozen Astros
Price has been up and down this season, but struck out 12 Astros in 6 2/3 innings, earning no-decision on Thursday afternoon. Price, who had a 6.4 K/9 through his first seven starts of the season, now has 21 strikeouts in his last 13 1/3 innings and has allowed three walks in his past 28 2/3 innings pitched. Price has pitched 6 1/3 or more innings in seven of nine starts this season, but has allowed nine runs in his past three starts (4.12 ERA). Price needs to work on his opponent’s batting average, .252, having allowed 59 hits in 59 2/3 innings this season. He has not been outstanding, but this uptick in strikeouts over the past two starts shows why Price is a SP1.

Madison Bumgarner slugs and pitches past Clayton Kershaw
Bumgarner pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing seven hits, and hit a home run off of Kershaw to lead the Giants. Bumgarner has been one of the hottest pitchers in baseball over his past five starts, posting a 1.60 ERA and 5.83 K:BB ratio. Although Bumgarner allowed nine runs over two starts on April 11 and April 16, he still has six quality starts in nine appearances this season and a 2.84 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. He has allowed 55 hits in 57 innings this season and twice has allowed two home runs in a start, but Bumgarner’s stellar control, 10 walks this season, has steered him clear of danger. Kershaw allowed seven hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings and the Dodgers dropped to 0-3 in games started by Kershaw against Bumgarner this season.

Kyle Hendricks dominates Padres
On a day with top pitchers throwing strong games, Hendricks may have had the best performance. He pitched a five-hit complete game shutout with seven strikeouts and no walks. Hendricks has had a rough start to the season, but has scoreless outings in two of his past three starts and has a solid 4.11 K/BB ratio. The win was the first of the season for Hendricks and evens his record at 1-1. Hendricks has not pitched deep enough in game to get decisions, as he averages only 5.71 innings pitched per start. The 25-year-old Hendricks had a 2.46 ERA and 1.68 walks per nine in 80 1/3 innings in 2014, so there is a strong chance that this start could be a sign of good things to come. Also, he had a dismal 66.8% strand rate coming into Thursday’s start. His past three games are enough to give him a start or two if he is available in your fantasy league.

Danny Salazar continues dominant return
After opening the season in the minor leagues, Salazar has been outstanding for the Indians. He pitched six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against the White Sox on Thursday. Salazar has allowed four runs in a start twice and five runs in his last start, but has 12.37 strikeouts per nine innings and has a 1.08 WHIP this season. Salazar has only allowed nine walks this season and has allowed five or fewer hits in three of his seven starts, leading to a 5-1 record. Salazar had a 1.38 WHIP in 2014, allowing 117 hits in 110 innings pitched, but still had more than a strikeout per inning. Other than cutting down on walks, his K:BB has jumped from 3.43 in 2014 to 6.67 in 2015, Salazar has focused more on ground balls. After posting a 0.62 and 0.58 GB/FB ratio in 2013 and 2014 respectively, Salazar has a 0.8 GB/FB ratio thus far in 2015. If Salazar can maintain his huge strikeout potential and continue to induce ground balls, he is a great target as a SP3 with the potential for 200+ strikeouts this season.

What to watch for

Although there are many solid starters like Michael Pineda, Jon Lester, and Chris Archer pitching on Friday, there are not many compelling pitching matchups. The best matchup may be the Padres-Dodgers matchup of Zach Greinke and Andrew Cashner. On face value, the matchup of 5-1 and 1-7 pitcher does not sound that good, but Cashner is much better than his record, posting six quality starts in eight appearances. Cashner has lost his past five outings, but still has a 3.24 ERA this season. Greinke has been outstanding this season, only allowing two runs in his past 20 2/3 innings and posting a 1.52 ERA, .184 opponent’s batting average, and 0.86 WHIP.

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