Game 57, Rays at Mariners
Sam Gaviglio vs. Alex Cobb, 7:10pm
It’s always nice to come into a game after battering the opposing pitchers the night before. When the M’s are on, they can really hit, and that’s with Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger sidelined. Jake Odorizzi isn’t chopped liver, though tonight’s starter, Alex Cobb, is probably a bit better.
I’ve always thought of Cobb as an American version of Hisashi Iwakuma. His splitter doesn’t quite have Kuma’s movement, but he throws it a ton, and it plays well off of his four-seam and sinker. It doesn’t hurt that Cobb’s got a bit more oomph on his fastball, and it really doesn’t hurt that Cobb never really tried to throw a slider (forget the slider, Kuma. It’s unnecessary). Cobb’s been a contributor to the Rays since he came up in 2011, but he’s been critical off the field, too. Apparently, he’s the guy who taught Odorizzi his split-change.
The problem’s been staying on the field. Cobb’s never managed 30 starts in a year, and this’ll be his 17th since *2014*. He’s lost time after getting hit in the head by a line drive and suffering from vertigo for months. He’s missed time due to forearm tendinitis, and its big brother, Tommy John surgery. When he’s healthy, he has smaller than normal platoon splits due to that great splitter, and makes up for so-so K rates with very good GB rates and an ERA that’s been persistently below his FIP (sounds like Kuma).
Sam Gaviglio’s given the M’s some quality innings since being forced into action due to one of the myriad injuries to M’s starters. He throws what Brooks Baseball calls a four-seam fastball at 88 MPH, but what really operates like a sinker. If it IS a four-seamer, it’d have well over 2 standard deviations less vertical movement than average. He complements this with a hard slider/cutter at about 82-83, and an even firmer change-up at 84+. He’s given up a HR on the change, and he may need to dial the velo down, but it looks kind of interesting as far as third pitches go.
1: Gamel, RF
2: Heredia, LF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Valencia, 1B
7: Motter, SS
8: Dyson, CF
9: Zunino, C
SP: Gaviglio
Dylan Unsworth, Pablo Lopez and Brandon Miller highlight the pitching probables today. The Rainiers were throttled by former teammate Casey Coleman in Fresno’s 4-1 win last night, and Inland Empire knocked around Nick Neidert a bit in a 7-2 win. It was Neidert’s first loss of the season, though he only gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and no walks in 5 IP. Robet Dugger and Danny Garcia had another successful piggy-back start in Clinton’s 4-1 win.
As much as this season feels “lost” I still love to win, and would really like to keep this trend going.
Mikey Z with the RBI double!
Not sure they should’ve sent Zunino there… that was a fairly shallow hit into left.
Valencia has a higher avg than Seager… that doesn’t seem right.
Ummm what just happened? im watching on gameday. Motter out at home!
Ball in dirt not far from catcher. Motter tried to score but was way late.
Nelson Cruz, ladies and gentlemen!!
Holy crap, Zunino!!!
O M G. Mike Z. Looks.like the checklist is working!
I hope beyond all hope that this Zunino sticks around for a while.
Sucre now in at catcher… it’s like Mariners’ Old Home Week.
Congrats to Nelson Cruz on hitting his 100th home run as a Mariner, the quickest to reach that mark. Cruz reached the 100-homer mark in his 362nd game with Seattle. H/T to Gary Hill.
Valencia has a higher avg than Seager… that doesn’t seem right.
Why not? He has a higher career average.
djw –
a few weeks ago we were all clamoring for Valencia to go away, I’m just glad he is hitting.
Sure. I don’t know why people decided he was useless after a bad month, given his track record. “clamoring for Valencia to go away” was a silly overreaction to a small sample size.