After a great start, Mariners pitcher Gonzales fell into a funk. He went to work and found his form
Marco Gonzales hit a wall during the first week of June.
After an impressive start to the season, during which he won five games in seven starts, the Seattle Mariners pitcher went winless in May. He dutifully answered questions about what had happened but he didn’t panic, and vowed to work on improving start-to-start.
Then May became June, and he allowed a season-high 10 earned runs across 4 2/3 innings in a 13-3 loss to the Angels. At that point, he vowed something needed to change.
“It starts with being accountable,” Gonzales said then. “The way that I pitched was just unacceptable. ... I need to help this team win. I need to be a guy that’s dependable and reliable and that hasn’t been the case.”
Whether he was tipping pitches, or something was off mechanically, he wasn’t sure. The numbers were troubling. In seven starts from May to June 2, he went 0-6 with a 7.79 ERA, allowing 28 earned runs in 32 1/3 innings, and walking 13 while striking out 20.
He said after that blowout loss to the Angels, the best way to swing momentum back in his direction was to get back to work in the days between starts. Nearly four weeks later, Gonzales hasn’t lost another game.
In four starts since that turning point loss, the left-hander is 4-0 with 2.59 ERA during that stretch. He’s allowed just seven earned runs in 24 1/3 innings while walking six and striking out 17.
“That’s Marco Gonzales,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said recently. “We saw it for a long time last year. He got a little bumpy there in May, and was struggling on a few things, but he’s cleaned it up. Very aggressive again, pitching both sides of the plate.
“Seeing him pitch the top of the zone a little bit more, which I think is helping him. The hitters don’t just have one area of the strike zone to lock in on.”
His four-pitch mix of sinker, changeup, cutter and curveball have been more effective and reliable. ,Gonzales his ability to find better command of his pitches has boosted his confidence.
“I found some consistency in my mechanics, just being able to throw anything at any time to both sides of the plate,” he said recently. “I think it’s just a process of adapting and adjusting my game plan. That’s the pitcher that I want to be. I don’t want to show the same guy (the same thing) twice.
“I think something that’s overlooked with me is my ability to kind of adapt and adjust. Hopefully the past couple starts have kind of shown that I can bring a different thing every game.”
He said simplifying, and allowing his athleticism to help him make competitive pitches, has helped.
“I was just trying to get a little to complicated on the mound, and trying to do too much,” Gonzales said. “I think just getting back to basics and trying to control what I can control, the results will be what they are, but as long as I can stay there, I’m happy.”
Gonzales isn’t planning to settle,
Now that he’s righted the ship over the last month, Gonzales is prepared to make adjustments as needed.
“This isn’t going to be figuring it out, and then it’s all roses from there,” he said. “It’s a constant change. People are getting better every day, and that’s the standard I hold myself to as well.”
ADAMS ADJUSTING
Since arriving from the Washington Nationals in early May, reliever Austin Adams has worked his way into more high-leverage situations.
Tuesday night against the Brewers, Adams steered Seattle away from trouble again in the sixth, with the Mariners holding on to a 7-3 lead. Milwaukee put two runners on base with two outs before Adams was called in to face superstar Christian Yelich — who he eventually struck out on a 3-2 slider.
“He’s got a lot of confidence right now,” Servais told reporters in Milwaukee. “Austin is a typical reliever in the fact that the adrenaline gets going. He’s got a dynamic slider. We knew that when we acquired him, it was just could he throw enough strikes with that and get the fastball in play?
“He certainly has figured it out. He’s in a good spot. We’ve used him in a number of different roles and the fact that the higher leverage spots we fire him out there.”
Adams has been used as an opener, and at the back end of Seattle’s bullpen, compiling a 2.75 ERA with the club in 17 appearances. He’s allowed six earned runs on 11 hits across 19 2/3 innings, and has a 33-8 strikeout-walk ratio. He’s held opponents scoreless in all but four of his outings.
Adams hasn’t allowed an earned run in his past eight games, has allowed just three hits in that stretch, and struck out 18 while walking two. The Mariners are 7-1 in those games.
WISCONSIN REUNION
Servais, a Wisconsin native, is making his first trip with the Mariners to Milwaukee this week during the three-game series against the Brewers. And, for Thursday’s series finale, Servais said fans in about 20-25 charter buses from La Crosse, which is near Servais’ hometown of Coon Valley, are making the 200-mile trek to watch.
“There’s one day a year that people from La Crosse get excited and come to a Brewer game, and they’ve decided to pick it the day I was here managing the team,” Servais told reporters in Milwaukee.
This story was originally published June 27, 2019 at 11:12 AM.
