After his first four starts this season, Kenta Maeda appeared to be in danger of losing his spot in the rotation. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke with the right-hander following a rough outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks, offering instruction and words of encouragement.
Maeda has since bounced back with three impressive starts, the latest of which came Wednesday night. He went a career-long 8.1 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates and entered the ninth pitching a shutout.
A leadoff single in the ninth inning was followed by a two-run homer. Maeda struck out Andrew McCutchen, then gave way to Grant Dayton. The outing was arguably Maeda’s best of his career.
He credited the stretch of improved results to no longer utilizing a four-seam fastball so heavily, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“The reasons I didn’t do well, I was relying too much on the four-seamer and it was elevated and hitters took advantage of that,” he said. “The cutter induces ground balls, and that’s what I was able to do today. In general, I’m keeping my pitches low. The four-seamer is a good pitch to throw, but not to rely on it. I’m not a power pitcher. I need to keep my pitches low.”
In his past three starts, Maeda has allowed two earned runs or less, going 2-0, while the Dodgers have won each contest. In addition to avoiding overusing a four-seam fastball, the 29-year-old has successfully incorporated a cut fastball that he experimented with during Spring Training.
“His last two turns have been really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He was efficient, pounding the strike zone, secondary (pitches) were really good, using all quadrants, so yeah, I was absolutely pulling for him to complete it.”
Overall this season Maeda is 3-2 with a 5.03 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. His ERA has decreased since peaking at 8.05 following the rough outing against the Diamondbacks on April 22.
