Veteran righty Jimenez off to another poor start with O’s
It’s still early. Saturday’s loss dropped the Orioles out of first place for the first time in this young season, but playoff spots can be determined by one win or loss, so every game is important. Asked whether Jimenez’s rotation spot is in jeopardy, manager Buck Showalter wasn’t committal, but indicated there might not be better options right now than to wait it out and hope the veteran can find his mojo, as he has before.
“We’re always trying to put our best foot forward,” Showalter said. “We look at everything, and say, ‘If not him, then who?’ and kind of look at everything. He’s not the only one who didn’t pitch well today, and he’s not the only one who’s had a tough start, but it certainly seems to be magnified because he’s had his ups and downs.”
On Saturday, it came down to a pair of walks and a pair of sinkers to Brett Gardner that stayed flat and served as the perfect slump buster for the struggling Yankees left fielder.
Gardner, who entered the game hitting .188 with no homers and no RBIs in 18 games, made Jimenez pay, hitting two homers off him — a solo shot on the Yankees’ first at-bat of the game and a three-run blast in the second that gave them a 5-0 lead.
All three batters Jimenez put on with walks Saturday ended up scoring.
“It doesn’t work,” Jimenez said. “It’s not good at all. If I don’t have good movement and then I start walking guys, they’re going to take advantage of that and that’s what they did today. … I think I have to find my fastball command. I have to stay ahead most of the time. That’s what’s hurting me the most. I’m falling behind in the count and every time I come back, I get hurt.”
On Saturday, Jimenez threw his sinker 27 times out of 68 pitches, and of the six times the pitch was put in play, four were hits, including both of Gardner’s home runs.
He didn’t get any swings and misses on the sinker in the loss.
“Ubaldo has thrown a lot of really nice games,” catcher Caleb Joseph said. “I think one of the big things with Ubaldo is getting ahead, being aggressive in the zone. The most important pitch for pitchers is strike one. And when he’s in the zone and throws that strike one, he usually has good results. Today he wasn’t able to do that.
“He was just missing on the other side of the plate. And it is frustrating because we know that he’s got it. But there’s not a more frustrated guy than him. We know that. We know that’s going to bounce back. He did last year. He’s bounced back every year. So I’m looking forward to him bouncing back because we are going to need him down the stretch.”