Pomeranz (5-6) suffered the loss against the Braves on Wednesday after allowing three runs on nine hits over five innings. He struck out six and walked one.
One measure of a pitcher's development is whether he can avoid having bad starts turn into total meltdowns, and that's just what Pomeranz did in this one. He struggled through the first inning, giving up four hits and two runs, but settled down thereafter and maintained his season-long proclivity for strikeouts. The 27-year-old lefty has now punched out a startling 83 batters in 70 innings, and while his walk rate remains a little high, he's limited the hits to a spectacularly low 46 -- only four of which have left the yard. That .250 BABIP may come up, bringing his ERA up a bit with it, but Pomeranz has officially arrived. Now the only question is whether the Padres will end up limiting his innings.