We've said it for four straight starts now — Colby Lewis appears to be OK.
After a first month of the season which saw him be the first player to take advantage of MLB's new paternity leave policy and face questions of having a dreaded "dead arm" after some bad starts, Lewis has now locked in and appears to be in a stretch right now that might even be better than he was at his best last season when he emerged on to the scene.
After three straight high quality starts, the latest example of Lewis' recent dominance came on Monday night in the Rangers' 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox, the fourth win in the past five games for the suddenly resurgent Rangers.
Lewis threw his first career shutout by going the full 9 innings and allowing just five hits, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He struck out seven batters and walked just one while throwing an efficient 110 pitches and helped the Rangers get back into first place in the AL West after the Angels' late loss.
Lewis has seen his fastball command return after struggling with his control early in the season and had all three of his pitches working on Monday — fastball, change-up and his out pitch, the slider.
After starting the season with a 1-3 record, he's now 4-4 on the season and has seen his ERA plummet from 6.95 to 3.81, which marks the first time this season his ERA has been under 4.00.
At the rate he's going right now, it's going to keep on dropping.
