Pfaadt struck out six and generated 14 missed swings, but most of the contact against him was hard, including a pair of homers that accounted for five runs. The loss dropped him to 5-2 with a 3.79 ERA. While he’s worth playing in mixed leagues most weeks, it’d make sense to bench him next week with the Dodgers on the schedule, especially since he’ll probably be matched up against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Pfaadt spent much of the day pitching his way out of trouble while giving up nine hits and improved to 5-1 with a 2.78 ERA. His peripherals don’t really back up the strong record, making him a potential sell-high candidate. Still, we’d expect his peripherals to improve, even if his ERA climbs some in the process. He’ll make his next start in Philadelphia.

Pfaadt was excellent against a Tampa Bay lineup loaded with left-handed batters. He retired the first five before a double and a base hit brought a run in for the Rays in the second inning. Pfaadt scattered three more base runners over four more scoreless frames, ending his day with five strikeouts. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 2.76 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and a 23/5 K/BB ratio across 29 1/3 innings into a start against the Braves in Arizona on Sunday.

It was nice to see the strikeouts finally come for Pfaadt after he’s had a great start to the season in terms of run prevention without missing many bats. Pfaadt can sometimes struggle to generate whiffs as predominantly a sinker-sweeper right-handed pitcher because the other team will often stack their lineup with left-handed batters and mostly neutralize those two offerings. The Marlins did just that in this game as seven of their nine hitters were lefties, but Pfaadt was able to cut through them with his changeup. While the pitch has been inconsistent in the past, Pfaadt has made a meaningful effort to incorporate more changeups in his game to have a better plan of attack against lefties and it worked here. He commanded it well low and out of the zone as it forced five whiffs and tons more ugly swings that produced weak contact. He’s scheduled to face the Rays in his next start.