Game 32, Orioles at Mariners
Yusei Kikuchi vs. John Means, 12:40pm
An early game will decide this three-game series, as Yusei Kikuchi takes on Baltimore’s ace, John Means. Means is off to a great start, but the M’s got to him back in Baltimore in the first game of a double-header. The three runs in 5 IP are the most he’s given up in a game thus far. Like a lot of pitchers, Means has been extremely stingy with base hits; he’s given up 21 in his 37 innings on the year, including 5 dingers. HRs have been a lingering issue for him, as we saw when the M’s touched him for two of them, but he continues to be a quietly effective pitcher overall.
As I mentioned last time, his best pitch is a pretty odd change-up that doesn’t sink much at all, and actually mimics the movement of his rising fastball. Gravity pulls it down a bit, but it has backspin that keeps it from falling too far. As with his fastball, that rise helps generate fly ball contact, so he makes the familiar trade-off of a low BABIP in exchange for some dingers. When more fly balls find the seats, he can struggle, and that change-up won’t look all that great. This year, with the slightly dampened baseball and by taking a tick or two off of that change-up’s velocity, it’s again a great pitch. By run value, it’s been one of the better secondary pitches in baseball thus far, and the best change-up overall.
1: Haniger, RF
2: France, DH
3: Seager, 3B
4: Lewis, CF
5: Murphy, C
6: White, 1B
7: Moore, 2B
8: Haggerty, LF
9: Crawford, SS
SP: Kikuchi
The return of Kyle Lewis and the slow, gentle awakening of some of the bottom-of-the-order batters has helped the M’s offense, but now they have to deal with the top of the line-up – ie. the only part that was working for the first three weeks – is slumping. Ty France now has just one hit and five walks in his last 34 PAs.
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3 Responses to “Game 32, Orioles at Mariners”
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Give credit to Means. He’s been great this year and tonight is no exception, regardless of how bad Seattle’s offense is.
Kikuchi looked good as well. Fletcher, not so much.
Welp. So far:
– White is as far away from being a quality MLB hitter as his 2020 said he was, but that isn’t fazing Jerry (which kind of makes you go hmmmm),
– The M’s two best hitters are (respectively) 30 and 33, then you get Ty France, and everyone else is various forms of “ugh”,
– the bullpen has come together pretty well so far,
– the rotation’s had high points, but it’s thin and significantly weakened by injury all of 5-6 weeks into the season.
Seems to me Trader Jerry is gonna strip the team’s veterans/bullpen for parts for the 2022-2023 teams real soon. That could be, uh, ugly. Avert your eyes ugly.
Somehow, the Seattle Mario Mendosas got no-hit.