The afternoon offers a pair of good pitchers on poor teams as Julio Teheran of the Braves takes on Drew Pomeranz of the Padres. Teheran owns a 2.92 ERA in 12 starts, thanks to excellent walk and strikeout numbers. He only has one win to show for it, however. Pomeranz is even better, with a 2.22 ERA with only four home runs allowed in 65 innings. With that low ERA, he managed just a 5-5 record.

Noah Syndergaard tries to get the Mets a win against the Pirates as he faces Jameson Taillon, making his major league debut. Syndergaard is in rare air as he’s striking out nine more batters than he walks, with 90 K in 70 2/3 innings. Taillon missed the last two years due to various injuries, including Tommy John surgery. IN 61 2/3 AAA innings this season, he walked 6 and struck out 61. There should be a good breeze from all the bats.

Doug Fister appears to be back in a groove as he leads the Astros against the Rangers and Yu Darvish. (Twisted Fister vs. Whirling Darvish?) Fister walked 24 this year, matching his total from last season in about 36 fewer innings. He’s allowing fewer base runners, however. It may be he was in the strike zone too much in the past, and hitters were being aggressive. Darvish struck out 12 in his first 10 2/3 innings back from Tommy John surgery.

Finally, David Price and Madison Bumgarner come into the Red Sox game against the Giants with identical 7-2 records, but very different ERAs. The Red Sox scored 77 runs in Prices 12 starts, the Giants scored 62 in the same number of Bumgarner starts. Bumgarner is obviously working too hard.