Andrew Cashner’s debut in the books in Sarasota
Pitching for the first time since September 12, 2018, Andrew Cashner made his Grapefruit League debut today against the Detroit Tigers. The 32-year-old right-hander is figured to be in the starting rotation when the team heads to New York in 25 days, however, he’ll still be trying to impress his new coaching staff.
Last season, Cashner started 28 games, but finished the season by losing his final five starts in-a-row. Finishing with a 4-and-15 record and an ERA of 5.29, Cashner’s 2018 season could go down as his worst season in the majors.
Cashner’s first inning of the spring plays right along the same lines as the entire 2018 season. He’d like to forget it. However, it’s just a spring game and he certainly won’t be judged by his first few pitches in March. After a first pitch strike to Tigers designated hitter JaCoby Jones, he hit him in the leg with a 92mph fastball.
With Jones aboard, center fielder Daniel Woodrow lined a single into left field, putting two men on with nobody down. With a fastball topping out at 92mph in the first inning, he was able to get third baseman Jeimer Candelario to fly out to center. However, cleanup batter and first baseman Niko Goodrum demolished a fastball over the right field fence, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
After throwing 21 pitches in the first inning, with 16 strikes, Cashner was able to get out of the inning, after a single by right fielder Dustin Peterson, by getting second baseman Dawel Lugo to tap a nubber in front of the plate. Catcher Austin Wynns handled it and threw down to first to end the inning.
Manager Brandon Hyde joined Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer on the MASN broadcast and he told us really what they’re looking for out of their starters this early in spring. “It’s really just kind of getting their feet wet again and getting the competitive juices flowing and coming off the mound feeling healthy after their outing. You don’t put too much stock into their first few outings.”
Returning for his second inning of work today, Cashner fared much better than in his first. Back-to-back strikeouts of catcher Grayson Greiner and shortstop Willi Castro were followed by a groundout by Jones. Cashner threw just 15 pitches in the second, still trailing by three, but firing ten strikes, running his total pitch count to 36 with 26 strikes.
His final inning of work was met with a few more Tiger base hits and another run. After Goodrum singled to run his day to 2-for-2, left fielder Brandon Dixon tapped one up the middle to put two men on base with two outs. After the back-to-back singles, Peterson came up and knocked a single into center, scoring Goodrum from second and running the Tigers lead to 4-0.
Speaking with Thorne and Palmer after his start, Cashner talked about how he was satisfied with his outing. “I think for me it’s just getting out there and getting back into the swing. Fastball’s not really locating like I’d like to but I think the biggest thing right now is really working on my slider and changeups down in the zone and I would say that’s one of the better sliders I’ve featured in a while.”
“[I’m] really working on my changeup down in the zone, really finishing it out front. I think a small adjustment on my four-seam is really getting it out front so it’s not up. I think that you get those balls down.” Speaking about the home run ball that Goodrum hit in the first inning, Cashner said, “Fastball in, I thought it was an OK pitch but, that’s not where I want I want it to be.”
“It’s a good start to build off of and keep going forward,” Cashner said. His line for the day goes as three innings, four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and zero walks on 54 pitches, 37 strikes.
