Strasburg knew something was wrong; Maddux fixed it
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A close reading of Stephen Strasburg’s Nationals history yields at least one reliable truth: When he struggles — really struggles, not just flashes mortal — something is wrong. For example, after he carried a perfect record into July last season, then gave up six and nine runs in back-to-back August starts, Strasburg was not just regressing to the mean. He was hurt, with a torn pronator tendon in his right arm.
So when Strasburg gave up six runs on seven hits in two bruising innings last week against the Cardinals, Dusty Baker said, “that was a sure sign that something was going on.”
That something, Strasburg admitted, was that he was tipping pitches. Pitching coach Mike Maddux — who noticed the same thing in Tanner Roark early last year and quickly corrected it — found the problem while scrutinizing video before his start against the Tigers on Monday. Strasburg is experimenting with throwing exclusively from the stretch this spring, something he said helps keep his mechanics simple and his delivery smooth. But in focusing on the switch to the stretch full-time, Strasburg fell into a pre-pitch pattern — one the Cardinals recognized after seeing him twice in two starts.
“I always have a tendency to tip pitches. I think it’s just the way I grip the ball,” Strasburg said. “My hands are pretty big, and if I’m not paying attention, I do little things. They’ve got everything on video, so they know all the little things that I do.”
To correct the problem, Maddux suggested Strasburg set his hands closer to his body. Instead of spinning the ball before coming set — or some similar, less deliberate motion — Strasburg tried to reach into his glove and set his grip right away Monday. The change seemed to work, as Strasburg allowed two runs in four innings and struck out five.
“From some of the swings they were taking on it,” Strasburg said. “It didn’t seem like they knew what was coming.”
RED SOX: Boston left-hander David Price is likely to start the season on the disabled list because of his sore pitching elbow.
Starting the second season of a $217 million, seven-year contract, Price has not yet appeared in an exhibition game.
“I think at this point, yeah, it would be hard to see him ready to go at the start of the season,” manager John Farrell said before Tuesday’s game against Toronto. “We really won’t have any kind of idea until he gets on the mound the first time and right now, I don’t know when that’s going to be.”
Boston had hoped for a formidable rotation headed by Price, Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and Chris Sale, acquired in December from the Chicago White Sox.
ROCKIES: Colorado catcher Tom Murphy will miss four to six weeks with a hairline fracture in his right forearm.
Manager Bud Black said Murphy broke his arm Saturday in a game against the Cubs when he was hit by Anthony Rizzo’s bat while throwing to second base on a steal attempt. The ball sailed into center field and Rizzo was called for interference. Murphy stayed in the game until the seventh, as planned. His injury wasn’t discovered until later.
Murphy is in a splint but won’t need surgery, Black said.
CARDINALS: St. Louis pitcher Jordan Schafer will have surgery this week on his left elbow and could ultimately need a Tommy John operation.
PHILLIES: Brock Stassi hit his fifth homer — tying Bryce Harper, Yoenis Cespedes and Jabari Blash for most in spring training — and tripled for Philadelphia against Atlanta.
METS: Yoenis Cespedes hit his fifth homer and Jacob deGrom struck out six Astros in four innings, allowing a run on three hits and a walk.
YANKEES: Gary Sanchez hit his fourth spring homer and prospect Gleyber Torres homered and drove in three runs against a Rays split squad. Starter Luis Severino struck out four in three innings, giving up a run on two hits and a walk.
RED SOX: Mitch Moreland hit a two-run double for Boston against the Blue Jays. Starter Drew Pomeranz gave up two runs on two hits over two innings.
WBC: In Guadalajara, Mexico, Miguel Cabrera hit a tying homer and Rougned Odor delivered a go-ahead single during a three-run rally in the ninth inning that carried Venezuela past Italy 4-3 on Monday night and into the second round of the World Baseball Classic.
In a one-game tiebreaker that determined the final team to advance out of the first round, Cabrera’s solo shot evened the score at 2 in the top of the ninth. With a runner on, Odor launched an opposite-field drive off the top of the left-center fence and held up at first base with an RBI single after thinking the ball had cleared the wall.