I’m the type of person who first eats the least tasty food on my plate (look at you, cruciferous vegetables) to better enjoy a non-stop stream of deliciousness later, so today we’re going to get down to the recap. Please carry me past the stinky, soggy, steamed sprouts so we can get to the good stuff later.
Okay, soggy sprouts first. Note: Don’t @me in the comments with “but you should try roasting brussels sprouts!” Yes, that’s the best way to enjoy them, but we can’t always have what we want, sometimes you get to someone’s house and he puts down a side of sickly steamed veggies and you just have to make the most of it. That’s essentially what the Mariners batsmen offered today without taking advantage of noted not good pitcher Vince Velasquez, who made more walks (3) than strikeouts (2) and yet remained relatively unharmed by the Mariners’ batsmen other than Eugenio Suárez ‘ first home run as a Mariner:
The Mariners had an opportunity in the third game when Velasquez pulled off two of those walks in a row with just one out, but despite a good load on the ball (xBA of .860), Winker was robbed of an excellent defensive play by midfielder Luis Robert before Haniger finished the inning harmlessly ended:
And so forth. A possible rally in fifth was wiped out when Haniger was punched out by Reynaldo Lopez on a difficult field with 97 on black. A mini-rally in the seventh was wiped out by Jesse Winker surprisingly hitting a left-hander. And another possible rally in the eighth was ended by this particularly brutal call against Jarred Kelenic:
The Mariners would fight back to get a run in ninth place, with Jesse Winker getting his first RBI as a Mariner on a well-hit single down center scored by JP Crawford, who ran straight through Manny Acta’s stop sign in third, bless his hearts , but by that point the bullpen had already leaked what would be Chicago’s winning streak when Diego Castillo looked like Badiego again, rather than showing the latest improvement he had shown and fighting his command in an agonizingly long inning where he finished 29th Pitches threw, only 13 for strikes. whoops
Okay, the awkward part is over. Let’s get to the fun part: Matt Brash’s debut. If the Mariners hitters were mushy veggies, Matt Brash was a delicious burger (a slider, obvs).
Full Transparency: I was the low on staff at Brash for a while, largely due to an annoying quirk of the circumstances where every time I caught him in Arkansas he struggled with his command and more often than in deep counts against hitters advised you want to see. I thought his profile screamed relieved with his funky delivery, smaller stature and strong two-pitch reliance. However, after today, I can clearly see a path to Brash as a regular mid-rotation starter.
Brash came out hot today with a first professional 12-pitch inning in which he recorded his first professional strikeout:
And right after that his second:
I’m not sure I fully trust what Statcast has – Brash exclusively threw an ankle turn on game day – but the breakdown at Savant is about 35% four sail (96 MPH average, peaking at 99), 34 % curveballs, 26% sliders, and 5% changeups (Statcast had him throw four, I only counted two). I think Brash threw more sliders and some of the turns are misclassified, which is okay because if you have a wizard pitch, you should throw that pitch often. Revolutionary stuff here, I know. But that ability to mix pitches and show hitters lots of different looks will help when the lineup turns a third time, and that’s where Brash caught up here today, missing his spot on a slider for Robert badly, leaving him in the in bottom center of the plate to allow Robert to use his amazing power to get away over the fence, and then failing to smuggle a fastball past Abreu, resulting in his elimination from the game for the day. Still, it was an exciting performance from one of the biggest question marks to come out of the camp, and gave Mariners fans some fun to focus on in what wasn’t otherwise a fun day. So the best for you, Matt Brash-y.
But wait! There’s dessert!
Kate’s unsung hero of the day:
If you read the chart, you’ll see that Matt Festa had the highest WPA for any mariner today, which is, uh, not good news for the batters. But it’s great news for Festa, who is genuinely committed to hanging around even after the roster contract. To Brash’s relief, Festa knocked out both batsmen he faced today, looking nasty in the process. It took him just 11 pitches (8 of them strikes) to pull his batsmen back and end a potentially big inning for the White Sox.