A trio of former Arkansas pitchers turned in solid starts in the big leagues late in the week.
Mike Bolsinger, Dallas Keuchel and Drew Smyly combined to allow only three earned runs on 11 hits and four walks, while striking out 14 batters in 19 1/3 innings of work. However, none earned a win.
The best outing came from the arm of Keuchel, who tossed nine scoreless innings of two-hit ball for the Houston Astros Friday. His offense did not give him any run support, though, and the game went to extras tied 0-0.
The Astros eventually beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 in 11 innings, but he was given a no decision.
Keuchel is the first pitcher to earn a no decision after pitching at least nine innings while allowing no runs and fewer than two hits since New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey on March 7, 2013. He is only the 50th pitcher to do so since 1914, according to Baseball-Reference's play index.
The performance improved his ERA to 0.62. That trails only the Texas Rangers' Nick Martinez, who has a 0.45 ERA in one less start than Keuchel.
Bolsinger and Smyly were both making their season debuts.
After being called up from triple-A, Bolsinger allowed just one earned run in 5 2/3 innings of work Thursday. He was in line for the win, but the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen blew the lead and he was credited with a no decision.
Los Angeles eventually lost 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants. Bolsinger gave up five hits and two walks, while striking out five.
The call-up came after he was named the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week, tossing 11 scoreless innings to start the season for the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Smyly's outing Friday was his first of the season after starting the year on the disabled list with left shoulder tendinitis.
He gave up two runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings of the Tampa Bay Ray's 12-3 blowout win over the Toronto Blue Jays Friday. He also struck out five batters, while walking none.
Because of a pitch count (he threw 79 pitches, 55 of which were strikes), Smyly didn't last the required five innings needed to earn the win. Instead, reliever Jose Dominguez was credited with the win, despite pitching only 1 1/3 innings.