His season-long earned run average of 5.91 will not overwhelm; neither will his 23 strikeouts in 53.1 innings. This is especially true of the strikeout figures when one considers this man has 718 major league strikeouts in 644 innings.
But there is more to the story.
This is Eric Gagne, the onetime nemesis of any National League team trying to collect even one measly ninth inning run during his power days of early this decade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Gagne seems to be definitely finding his way back to at least some degree of pitching efficiency in the starting rotation of the Can-Am League's Capitales de Quebec.
He was within three outs of a seven-inning no-hitter Sunday, stifling the New Jersey Jackals with his first complete game since back in 1998 with the Class A Vero Beach (FL) Dodgers. The Yogi Berra Stadium crowd in Little Falls, NJ finally saw the home team get two hits in the seventh only to have a triple play end the 10-0 whitewash.
Gagne has worked at least six innings in each of his last five starts, and in the last four of those contests he has put together a 2.31 ERA (seven earned runs in 27.1 innings) while winning three times and taking a no-decision in the other outing. It also is somewhat encouraging that the 33-year-old Gagne has fanned 14 hitters in his last three starts, which is significant improvement over the nine strikeouts total in his first six starts. He has issued six walks in the three games and only 16 for the season, which includes three wins in five decisions.
We understand Gagne's velocity also has gone up about five miles per hour since he first took the mound for Quebec a month and a half ago. He is now getting back into the high 80s.
That is progress.
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