Jeremy Guthrie probably wishes he didn't have to work on Memorial Day like most other Americans.
The Kansas City Royals starting pitcher was absolutely rocked Monday against the New York Yankees, giving up an unbelievable 11 runs while recording just three outs. That put him in the history books for all of the wrong reasons, according to MLB Stat of the Day on Twitter:
It also put his performance among some of the worst pitching displays of all time, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports:
Yes, Guthrie would probably have much preferred to be grilling and enjoying a beer Monday. Instead, he gave up a two-run homer to Chase Headley, a three-run shot to Brian McCann and another three-run homer to Brett Gardner in the first inning alone. Stephen Drew followed up with yet another three-run bomb in the second inning, which led to Guthrie's early departure.
Guthrie has certainly had an up-and-down season even before Monday's debacle. As Lee Judge of the Kansas City Star noted, he went 1-2 with an ERA of 6.52 over his first five starts before reversing course, going 3-0 with an ERA of 1.96 in his three starts leading up to Monday.
As Judge noted, Guthrie has struggled at times with the difference in velocity between his fastball and changeup. When he's struggled, he's tended to throw those pitches at about the same speed, allowing hitters to adjust to that velocity.
Whatever the case was Monday, the Yankees certainly had no issue identifying Guthrie's pitches and teeing off on them. Guthrie and the Royals will simply be hoping he can put this brutal start behind him and regain the form he was showing in the three starts prior to Monday's shellacking.
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