PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Unhappy with his delivery and his control after an ugly outing against the Phillies on March 6, Rays closer Pete Fairbanks took a week away from game action to get himself right.
He pulled biomechanical data from the past, trying to identify flaws in his mechanics resulting from what he called ¡°bad habits that I¡¯ve got into that have hindered me to this point in my extreme small sample size of two outings.¡± He spent a lot of time throwing on flat ground and off the mound.
Fairbanks consulted with Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder, bullpen coach Jorge Moncada and applied physiologist Jillian Hawkins, and he called up some trainers he works with in the offseason ¡°because I needed somebody to vent to, and I¡¯ve vented enough to Snydes.¡±
In the end, after adjusting the length of his stride to get his hips further down the mound and adjusting his routine to ¡°drive the motor-patterning that I need to drive, vs. the motor-patterning that I unwittingly had played into,¡± Fairbanks looked more like himself on Friday night.
The right-hander allowed two softly hit singles and struck out two batters while working a scoreless seventh inning in a 13-6 loss to the Twins at Hammond Stadium. After throwing only eight of his 24 pitches for strikes in his last outing on March 6, when he walked four batters while recording two outs, Fairbanks fired 14 of his 21 pitches for strikes on Friday.
¡°I think it was a positive step for what I expect out of myself, and we¡¯re going to keep driving that pattern in and go from there,¡± Fairbanks said.
¡°That was probably the bright spot of the day on the pitching side,¡± manager Kevin Cash said Friday night. ¡°The velo was there. The strike-throwing was a lot better. Happy with that.¡±
Fairbanks added another wrinkle in the outing, too, working in three 93 mph changeups. He finished his inning by getting a swinging strike on the offspeed pitch, which he intends to use more often this year. He threw only 21 last season, and it accounted for less than 1% of his pitch mix the previous three seasons.
¡°You¡¯ve got to throw it. I'm planning on throwing it. You¡¯ve got to practice it, then you¡¯ve got to go execute it,¡± Fairbanks said. ¡°I thought it was another positive for me.¡±
Rotation roundup
? On Saturday, right-hander Drew Rasmussen pitched four solid innings on 54 pitches in the Rays¡¯ 7-7 tie against the Yankees, striking out six without a walk while allowing three runs on five hits. Cash said he was pleased with Rasmussen¡¯s commitment to staying in the strike zone, even after the Yankees racked up a few hits in the second and third innings.
¡°I felt pretty good. It was more than what I remember, but you¡¯ve got to do it,¡± said Rasmussen, who hadn¡¯t worked four innings in a game since May 11, 2023. ¡°Checking that box off is how you get in shape to get to the point where four doesn¡¯t seem like that tall of a task.¡±
? An hour before Rasmussen¡¯s first pitch, Taj Bradley threw 76 pitches over 4 2/3 innings of live batting practice against teammates Logan Driscoll, Jake Mangum, Carson Wililams and Bobby Seymour on a back field at Charlotte Sports Park. Working with catcher Danny Jansen, Bradley focused on his changeup, a dominant pitch during his brilliant stretch last summer that he said ¡°got a little shaky¡± at times after that. Snyder told Cash he was ¡°really pleased with the outing.¡±
? Zack Littell struggled in Friday¡¯s loss to the Twins, allowing six runs on seven hits and three walks while being pulled in the middle of two different innings. Littell said it was just a really bad night, which was evident in his decreased velocity and lack of control.
¡°I don¡¯t even really think there¡¯s much point in digging into what was wrong,¡± Littell added. ¡°I don¡¯t expect it to continue. It was just a night where I didn¡¯t feel great in any aspect.¡±
? After allowing six hits and four walks in a two-inning start on March 7, Shane Baz allowed four runs on five hits in a 14-4 win over the Nationals on Thursday. But he was thrilled with how he got there, calling it ¡°the best four-run game I¡¯ve ever pitched.¡± Baz allowed two singles and a three-run homer to the first three batters he faced, but he kept throwing strikes and yielded only two more hits the rest of the way.
¡°That¡¯s definitely the best I¡¯ve felt this year so far,¡± Baz said. ¡°Just happy that I attacked the whole time and got all my stuff in.¡±