three stars

Drew Pomeranz was good. Lance Lynn was a little better. Brandon Woodruff was the best of the three Mississippi college alumni who started big league games on Friday night. Ole Miss product Pomeranz, pitching for San Francisco, went toe-to-toe with Clayton Kershaw and hung up five scoreless innings, striking out seven. But it took Pomeranz 92 pitches to get through five against Los Angeles, and he wasn’t around when the Giants scored two off Kershaw in the sixth. They went on to a 2-1 win. Pomeranz remains at 1-6, though he did slice his ERA to 7.16. Lynn, also a former Rebels star, threw six innings for Texas, yielding two runs and fanning eight. It was his sixth straight quality start, and he stood to get the win after the Rangers scored three against Oakland in the bottom of the sixth. Alas, the Rangers’ pen blew the save, and the A’s won 5-3. Lynn is 7-4 with a 4.39. That brings us to Woodruff. The ex-Mississippi State standout from Wheeler worked six strong innings for Milwaukee, allowing three runs and fanning 10 in a 10-4 blowout against Pittsburgh. Woodruff is now 8-1 with a 3.87, and the first-place Brewers are 11-2 in his starts. “He’s confident in what he’s doing,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell told mlb.com in a bit of an understatement. P.S. Former State star Mitch Moreland came off the injured list for Boston on Friday, went 0-for-2 and left the game with “quad tightness.” … Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson, out since April 4 for Pittsburgh with a shoulder injury, is set to be activated today.