By Scott Lauber | Philadelphia Inquirer
A few days ago, before the Phillies embarked on this West Coast trip, manager Gabe Kapler cited one of his favorite statistics — fielding independent pitching — to illustrate how well the starting rotation has been performing.
But with pitching as dominant as this, advanced metrics aren’t required.
Nick Pivetta became the latest Phillies starter to turn out the lights on an opponent. He blanked the Diamondbacks for six innings here Tuesday night, outpitching Arizona ace Zack Greinke in a 5-2 victory that stretched the Phillies’ lead in the National League East back to 1 1/2 games.
