Game 9, Mariners at Twins
Chris Flexen vs. Matt Shoemaker, 11:10am
The M’s finish up this strange, stop/start series in Minnesota today with another early game against the Twins and former Angels splitter-maven, Matt Shoemaker. The M’s snatched an extra-inning win against the Twins yesterday, a win that certainly put the M’s in a very different light from Thursday’s clunker. Taylor Trammell, who’dn having so much trouble making contact, got his first big league HR, and Mitch Haniger followed with a long HR of his own. Yusei Kikuchi was very solid, striking out 6 in 6 IP and really making only one mistake (if you can call it that), giving up an opposite-field dinger to Nelson Cruz. Not much to complain about all around.
But perhaps the most surprising thing to me was the more-than-solid performance of the bullpen. I know you can’t really judge a unit like this on a game-to-game basis; it’s only when enough appearances stack up that you can really ascertain their overall quality. But Kendall Graveman and Keynan Middleton shook off a bad outing and pitched pretty well. Rafa Montero was…ok, he wasn’t great. But Casey Sadler’s becoming an interesting option in the middle innings. He’s gone to a steady mix of curves and cutters, with the occasional sinker thrown in to give batters a different look. His curve has more slurvy movement to it, with less vertical break and more horizontal break than most, and it’s helping him post the highest K rates of his career. He’s walked too many in his M’s tenure, and he’ll have to keep an eye on that, but with all of those Ks, the walks matter a bit less.
Chris Flexen was revelatory in his first start of the year, and it’ll be interesting to see how he navigates a tougher line-up today. He’s looking like an extreme fly-ball pitcher at this point, and this is not a team you want to give up a lot of fly balls against, so we’ll see if his pitch mix adjusts or if he’s confident enough in his own approach not to change it just because Buxton/Cruz is one hell of a one-two punch.
Matt Shoemaker made his MLB debut against the M’s way back in 2013, and has carved out a pretty successful career when he’s been able to stay healthy and avoid Kyle Seager line drives. At age 34, he’s still throwing 92 – in fact, he’s throwing a touch harder than he did back in 2013. As always, his best pitch is a diving splitter in the mid-80s. He’s traditionally paired this with a rising four-seamer, which helps hide his splitter, but he’s taken to throwing a sinker as well. That’s an..odd choice, but he’s also developed a slider that he likes, so he may be trying to mirror his pitches horizontally and then come back and mirror them vertically.
1: Haniger, RF
2: France, 2B
3: Seager, 3B
4: Marmolejos, 1B
5: Torrens, DH
6: Trammell, CF
7: Murphy, C
8: JP Crawford, SS
9: Bishop, LF
SP: Flexen
Braden Bishop makes his first start of 2021, and Jose Marmolejos is still in the line-up as Evan White’s quad injury is still bothering him a bit.
It’s a Sunday game and they’re banged up, but man does this lineup leave something to be desired.
If I didn’t mention it before, I must stress that I don’t enjoy watching Marmolejos trying to identify breaking balls.
I, for one, am shocked that a lineup of AAAA players, new kids, Kyle Seager, Mitch Haniger, and defense-first players isn’t setting the world on fire on offense.
I mean, OK, France and Torrens look OK, but this team needs a legit bat. They just don’t look good matched up against good teams.
^It’s a little uglier today with Moore getting a break.
But to be clear, it’s not pretty (enough) even with Moore. Kelenic and Lewis will make things a little more interesting, but there’s still room for an experienced bat or three.
There’s room for a starter or two as well.
Well, we know these guys can punish mistakes.
And we know Minnesota feels obliged to punish France for their mistakes.
Yikes.
And punishing mistakes has now changed this game as much as beer has changed my vision.
What a nice way to cap off the weekend!
I have to say it’s nice to see worse bullpens than yours. Plus Kyle Seager isn’t exactly done yet. I don’t expect him to go deep into his 30’s or early 40’s as a productive MLB player, but a couple of years past 2021 wouldn’t be a shock.