Kumar Rocker News: Career-high eight strikeouts in win

Rocker (1-2) earned the win after allowing three runs on five hits and no walks in seven innings Thursday against the Angels. He struck out eight.

The seven frames and eight punchouts both set career highs for the hard-throwing right-hander, who was outstanding Thursday. Jorge Soler plated a run in the opening frame, and Luis Rengifo drove in a pair in the fifth inning, but Rocker threw five spotless innings otherwise. Rocker will look to further improve on his 6.38 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 14:4 K:BB through four starts (18.1 innings) in his next outing, which is likely to come against a hard-hitting Athletics lineup in Sacramento next week.