Nittoli pitched a clean 1-2-3 inning of relief including a swinging K on a slider dipping low and away to complete his frame of work. Nice stuff. 6-1 Sounds on to the 7th.
Meanwhile, with two down...Birchard just walked another batter. That was nine in a row retired. These AB's happen routinely for him in his young career, however. He suddenly just loses his heater arm side. Overcompensates and then throws it low and outside. His two out walk pattern is one of his biggest issues amongst his ongoing walk issues at large. The stuff is there. The fine-tuned mechanics remain elusive.