It wasn't all that bad all things considered. 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K. Yes, it was pretty bad. If this was a Marquis game, people would be roasting him. Or, to use fangraph, he lowered the Cubs' chances of winning by 14.4% points. I'll take it as a surprise spot start in the kid's first big league start who hasn't thrown many innings the past 2 weeks. Excuses You can call them excuses but under those circumstances, few if any young pitchers would perform well. It's the reality of the situation. I was being sarcastic Cal, as Ive been the one trying to defend Gallaghers outing today. I think Kyle is being a little rough on a guy making his 1st major league start on a moments notice, and saying it was a bad outing. He was cruising for 4 innings, and given the sporadic use of Gallagher, Im not surprised he started running out of gas in the 5th.