After early struggles, Giles brings the heat
Fixing mechanical flaw puts more zip on righty’s fastball.
The high-leverage HOUSTON — situations with Houston leading have been scarce, but regardless of the inning, Ken Giles has recently looked a lot more like the pitcher the Astros thought they would get when they relinquished so much for him.
After a brutal April, the flame-throwing right-handed reliever has been dominant in May. His last seven appearances have been scoreless, and his ballyhooed fastball is on the verge of once again cracking 100 mph.
“I’ve finally gotten things figured out,” Giles said. “Just staying within myself is the key thing right now. I’m not trying to do too much. That’s the main thing right now.”
Fixing a mechanical flaw was the key to Giles’ turnaround. He had developed bad habits with his hand placement, an issue remedied via repetitions in side sessions. Hitters were able to see his fastball longer, and it showed in his 9.00 April ERA. Now, the opposition is once again struggling to catch up to his heater.
“It was mechanical, 100 percent. Not confidence. I always knew I had the confidence,” he said. “You’ve got to be patient because you’re going to fail before you succeed. I haven’t failed a lot, so I had to go through that phase. It’s not a great thing to go through, but everybody goes through it.”
It’s far from a coincidence that the radar gun readings have crept up as Giles has ironed out his mechanics. His velocity is actually ahead of this time last season, his first full season with the Philadelphia Phillies. He has eclipsed 99 mph five times this month, including on a season-high 99.71 mph fastball to strike out the Texas Rangers’ Ian Desmond on Saturday.
Texas has edge: The Rangers seem to have the Astros’ number. The latest evidence is another sweep last weekend, this time coming at Minute Maid Park after Texas won three in a row at home in April.
“They’ve just beat the hell out of us,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch, whose team is 2-14 against the Rangers since August. “They’ve come into our ballpark, at their ballpark, and they’ve just beat us.
“It doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.”
Sunday’s 9-2 defeat was the only lopsided game between the two in 2016. The Rangers won by one, two and three runs at home and took a pair of 2-1 games Friday and Saturday.