Wade LeBlanc: masterful. Lefty shines, again, this time on national stage as Mariners shut out Red Sox
Wade LeBlanc.
Three months ago he was released from a minor league contract. On Saturday evening he walked off the mound with two outs in the eighth inning with 44,151 at Safeco Field applauding as he approached the dugout.
LeBlanc walked slowly, savoring it, clapping in his glove a few times and tipping his cap before taking his place among his teammates on the bench – that after retiring 22 consecutive Boston Red Sox batters and striking out nine in 7 2/3 innings shutout innings — probably the most remarkable start of his 10-year career.
“That was a really neat moment. Guys who throw 86 (mph) they don’t really get standing ovations very often,” LeBlanc said with a laugh.
“I just kept thanking God. That was an incredible feeling. It’s been a long road to get here, to sustain me and my family. It’s hard to do anything but thank.”
Who is this guy?
The 33-year-old left-hander hadn’t struck out nine since a 2011 start for the Padres. He’d never pitched this many shutout innings in his 10-year career. He was nearly perfect if not for a leadoff single (and little umpire help) against Red Sox leadoff hitter Mookie Betts.
Then, of course, came another Mariners one-run win.
They held off Boston after Nelson Cruz drove in a third-inning run against knuckleballer Steven Wright for a 1-0 victory on Saturday, improving to 46-25.
Edwin Diaz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Mookie Betts for his major-league leading 27th save.
The Mariners haven’t been 21 games over .500 since August of 2003, though they didn’t gain ground in the American League West because the Houston Astros won their 10th consecutive game earlier in the day.
But how about the Louisiana lefty?
LeBlanc was at his most LeBlanking form this season, and against arguably the best lineup he’s faced all season, riding a changeup that had more depth to it than any previous appearance for him this season.
It came a few hours after his wife and two young boys surprised him with a towering trophy for his locker room stall in the Mariners’ clubhouse. Engraved were the words, “Happy Father’s Day to our MVP. We love you.”
“I got a long way to earn that trophy,” LeBlanc said.
The only thing: None of the trophies his five-year-old could find had a pitcher on top, certainly not a left-hander. It had a batter.
LeBlanc just shrugged. He way more appreciated the sentiment.
Mariners manager Scott Servais had already raved about LeBlanc’s moxie and Jamie Moyer-like qualities. Then this night happened.
LeBlanc retired 22 consecutive batters from the first inning into the eighth and had faced the minimum. Dee Gordon flashed the gold on his glove behind him at second base a few times, but this wasn’t all trust-the-defense pitching.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora thought of Moyer, too.
"He reminded me a lot of that guy on the wall over there, Jamie Moyer," Cora said. "He was outstanding. Back-door cutters, front-door sinkers, front-door cutters to lefties, then he mixed up his breaking ball halfway through the game, a good changeup. He had a great night, and we didn't."
Of LeBlanc’s nine strikeouts, he got Mookie Betts twice, foiling him the first time on a cutter and second time with his changeup. He also struck out J.D. Martinez twice – once with a changeup, once with a cutter.
Mind you, Betts are Martinez are about as good of bets are there is to be playing in Washington, D.C., next month for the American League All-Star team.
“I tip my hat to Wade LeBlanc,” Servais said. “What a changeup he had today. That has been his bread and butter his whole career but today was probably the best one we’ve seen all year. The back and forth and cutter working in and out as well, just enough fastballs to keep them honest and really had them off stride all day.”
LeBlanc, he of the 86-mph fastball (an oddity in baseball’s velocity age) was one shy of his career-high 10 strikeouts, which he had in a 2011 outing for the San Diego Padres against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The most shutout innings he’d previously tossed was seven, last occurring with the Padres in 2010.
“It’s more of a power game right now – for good reason,” LeBlanc said. “A lot of guys who can throw hard and execute pitches.
“I think the game would get boring if you throw that hard and execute pitches,” LeBlanc said with a smile. “I like to keep things challenging.”
So fitting for LeBlanc, who just this past offseason had been released from his minor league contract with the New York Yankees, then signed with the Mariners only after reliever David Phelps needed season-ending Tommy John Surgery and Seattle had an available spot in their bullpen.
He’s gone from their long reliever, to spot starter with right-hander Erasmo Ramirez (right Teres Major strain) heading to the disabled list, to one of the major-leagues front-line starters over the past month and a half. Even as some keep waiting for him to regress to the mean, LeBlanc shut down the Red Sox in front of a nationally televised audience and a packed house at Safeco Field.
“Man, it’s a humbling thing,” LeBlanc said, his Father’s Day trophy standing just behind him. “To be able to step back and look at where we’ve been and where we’ve come from and … I just thank God for it.
“But at the end of the day you enjoy it and get ready to face them again because I got them again in six days.”
Servais was asked what he told LeBlanc when he approached the mound to take the ball from him with two outs in the eighth inning.
“His teammates already said a lot to him,” Servais said. “That was a heck of an effort. Can’t ask for anything more than that to get us into the eighth inning there. Very well prepared, ready to go and anxious to get out there and do his job. That’s all he’s trying to do. Not trying to fill anybody’s spot or anything. Just my job to pitch today, keep my team in the game and that’s what he did.”
A few takeaways:
Diabolical Diaz
For how good LeBlanc was, don’t let Edwin Diaz’s ninth inning get lost.
He continues to bear the load in late innings, with the Mariners playing one-run madness seemingly every night.
Diaz pitched a 1-2-3 frame, striking out the best hitter in the American League so far this season, Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts, with a slider – just after a 99-mph fastball and a 99.6-mph one.
Yeah, really. Diaz was throwing 13 mph faster than LeBlanc was.
But both were effective.
“Baseball tends to be kind of cyclical,” LeBlanc said. “There are things that come back around. Like a sac bunt. Hopefully that comes back into play. Hopefully execution. Maybe we can make that a primary goal again and guys like me start coming back around.”
But back to Diaz.
His 27 saves ties him for Fernando Rodney for the second-most saves before the All-Star break in Mariners’ history. Kazuhiro Sasaki saved 29 games before the All-Star break in 2001.
So he needs to more saves to tie – with a month remaining until the midsummer classic.
“Eddie was locked in today,” Servais said. “That was great to see. One-run game late, you know they’re going to pinch-hit and you eventually get to the top of the lineup. Not much room for error. He was very aggressive.”
Trouble with the knuckle
The Mariners just didn’t give him a lot of run support.
Not against Red Sox starter Steven Wright, the 33-year-old knuckleballer, who entered having pitched 22 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating to his time out of the bullpen, like LeBlanc, to start the season.
He ran that to 24 2/3 scoreless before Mitch Haniger and Cruz hit back-to-back two-out singles in the third inning, with Cruz’s hit through the left side of the infield scoring Dee Gordon from second base.
The Mariners had a chance to add some insurance in the eighth when Jean Segura doubled with one out, but Haniger struck out and Cruz fouled out to first base to send it to the ninth.
But it was enough. And the Mariners keep rolling – winners of six of their past seven games and 13 of their past 16.
Dee-fence
Dee Gordon brought his shimmy game, and how could you blame him?
He dived to his left, snared a hard ground ball from Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts and threw it from his knees to first base to just but Bogaerts to the bag for the out.
The Red Sox challenged it, but the call stood, which had Gordon doing a little dance.
“I was thinking to myself that if I’m a 7-10 year-old kid, I got to be practicing that diving play in the living room somewhere tonight,” Servais said. “Our defense really got back in check after the rough inning last night.”
There’s still one game remaining in this series, but Gordon has flashed every bit of the gold on his glove. He also dived to his right in the second inning before turning and throwing from his seat to get Rafael Devers at first base.
And he channeled a little Russell Wilson, who threw out the first pitch in Friday’s game, with an option pitch to second base to start a 4-6-3 double play on Andrew Benintendi.
Gordon might have saved the Mariners on Friday when they came from behind to take a 7-6 victory over the Red Sox, when he dived across the middle of the field for a hard ground ball in the top of the seventh inning, turned and fired to first base for the final out of the inning, with runners at first and second.
A run might have scored if it got through. Instead it set up a Mike Zunino home run in the bottom half of the inning and later Denard Span’s go-ahead double.
Not many teams can replace a two-time Gold Glove second baseman like Robinson Cano with another Gold Glove second baseman. The Mariners will have an intriguing dilemma when Cano is set to return by Aug. 14 from his 80-game drug suspension.
TJ Cotterill: 253-597-8677
Twitter: @TJCotterill
This story was originally published June 16, 2018 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Wade LeBlanc: masterful. Lefty shines, again, this time on national stage as Mariners shut out Red Sox."