Athletics reliever Sergio Romo is quietly having a strong season. Well, not completely quiet.
His on-the-field antics when he pulled down his pants on June 22 due to the newly implemented foreign substance checks caused him to go viral across the internet.
Beyond that, however, his numbers have been extremely impressive.
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SIGN UP HERE In 16 games since the pants-dropping incident, he has a 0.55 ERA and opponents are batting .060 (3-for-50) without an extra-base hit. The only earned run Romo allowed in this stretch came after he was removed in the bottom of the seventh inning after walking a batter with two outs which came around to score off A’s reliever Jake Diekman.
That’s not all.
Batters also are hitting just .167 against Romo when they are ahead in the count (!!!).
He’s also bringing relief in other ways to the A’s, giving Yusmeiro Petit a much-needed break to balance out the heavy workload that was being brought on him in recent outings.
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Not that he’s not capable of handling it, however. The addition of Andrew Chafin also has helped round out the bullpen depth.
Chafin was acquired by the Chicago Cubs around the trade deadline and in addition to bringing a strong clubhouse vibe to the A’s, the 31-year-old has a perfect 0.00 ERA since sporting the green and gold with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.