Tuesday, April 11: Athletics Back to .500, Mariners Rebound

Athletics 2, Royals 0

I watched the A's play the Royals in their home opener to catch Jharel Cotton pitch, and he did not disappoint. Why? Screwball, that's why. Who does that anymore? Jharel Cotton does that. He struggled in his first outing against the Angels. But against the Royals, he located pitches with precision and worked in his screwball with devastating effect. Aided by the afternoon shadows at Kauffman Stadium, Cotton struck out the side in the 5th inning, mowing down Brandon Moss, Paulo Orlando and Alcides Escobar. He rang up the latter two on three straight pitches. He ended up allowing just two hits in 7 innings. Santiago Casilla, still throwing fire at age 36, and Sean Doolittle  finished it up with a scoreless inning each. Both also struck out the side, giving the A's staff 12 strikeouts for the game. "That's probably the best we've seen him pitch," manager Bob Melvin understated about Cotton. 


Mariners 6, Astros 0 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde continued for the Astros on Monday, with this time Hyde rearing his ugly head. The Astros offense, despite fireworks from outfielder George Springer, has sputtered and that continued against pitcher James Paxton in Seattle. Paxton didn't allow a runner to reach second base through 6 innings, ending with 7 innings pitched and 8 strikeouts. It was a great bounce back in the home opener for the Mariners after the devastating 9th inning meltdown against the Angels on Sunday. "We have a lot of fight in us. There's some grind in our team," promised manager Scott Servais, hopefully with a steely stare. 

The box.  

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