Drayer on Mariners: How pitching dominated Padres; Brash’s new weapon

With the Seattle Mariners (26-19) back on track following a sweep of the Padres in San Diego, they have pushed their lead in the AL West to 2 1/2 games over both the Houston Astros (24-22) and Texas Rangers (25-23).

Three best things we’re seeing from Mariners after sweep over Padres

Before the M’s open the second of three series on their current 10-game road trip, it’s a good time to empty the notebook.

Here’s a look at the pitching staff in general and how reliever Matt Brash’s long-awaited return from the injured list has gone so far.

Going right at ’em

The Seattle Mariners’ pitching staff went 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA against a very good Padres offense, and did it by going after the hitters and letting them put the ball in play.

The Padres have a best-in-baseball 18.4% strikeout rate this year, but the Mariners posted 7.33 strikeouts per nine innings and walked just four batters in the series, improving from the 22 walks issued in the six-game homestand where they went just 1-5.

“They were tremendous the entire series,” Mariners pitcher coach Pete Woodworth in a walkoff interview on the Seattle Sports radio broadcast following Sunday’s 6-1 win (see video at the top of this post). “Minimal free bases, they made them swing it. That’s a really good lineup – they just went right after them and executed the heck out of it the whole series.”

All three M’s starters from the series drew the praise of Woodworth. He declared Bryan Woo’s fastball to be “on another planet” Sunday, and Game 1 starter Logan Evans to be “awesome,” particularly in how he was able to get “a great lineup to try and hit his breaking balls.” And on Saturday, Emerson Hancock’s confidence and belief in his ability hit a different level, with the righty being “a different animal, foaming at the mouth” in his performance.

Changing it up

So far so good for Matt Brash, who has pitched in five games since his return from the injured list after missing all of 2024 due to elbow surgery.

The Mariners will continue to be careful with his workload, but for now Brash said he is available after one day off and we just haven’t seen it as the situation to use him then has yet to arise.

By now you have probably heard Brash is throwing a new kick changeup. It’s a pitch he taught himself while coming back from the surgery. Last week on the Seattle Sports pregame show, he said that in his free time he watched a lot of baseball – Mariners games and other condensed games – and noted the pitch was beginning to emerge in MLB.

Having been looking for a pitch for lefties who struggle with pitches down in the zone, Brash decided to give it a go. He has thrown eight so far, two of them for strikeouts.

“I think it puts another look in the hitter’s head,” Brash said Sunday. “Lefties have to respect that now – and some righties. It helps get guys off my slider, it can set up my slider or sinker. I love it. I have a lot of confidence in it. It’s great weapon for lefties.”

While the changeup has been added, another pitch from Brash’s repertoire has disappeared: his four-seam fastball. It’s a pitch he threw 34% of the time in 2023, but he has thrown just once so far since returning. Brash said he hasn’t necessarily shelved the pitch, he still throws it in his warmups, but he has found he has better options with the sinker so effective against righties and breaking pitches against lefties.

Brash had been looking for ways to get quicker outs and is pleased with what he has seen so far.

“I feel like the sinker hasn’t been hit hard, and it’s really good early in the count,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence in it in (the strike) zone so (I’ve) just kind of gone away from the four-seam. I feel like the changeup, it plays really well off the sinker. If there is a lefty that struggles with fastball up, we’ll go to it.”

The Mariners open their three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox at 4:40 p.m. Monday, with radio coverage on Seattle Sports beginning at 3:30 with the pregame show.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Drayer: How top M’s pitching prospects Cijntje, Sloan are opening eyes
• Surprising M’s contributor Rivas makes two web gems in one game
• Mariners’ five straight hits with two outs lead way to sweep of Padres
• Dodgers release Chris Taylor, who became All-Star after trade from M’s
• Raleigh shares the impact made by Seattle Mariners hitting coaches

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