Kenta Maeda turned in another strong performance and Joc Pederson hit a go-ahead home run to help lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to victory on Sunday night, giving them a series win against the rival San Francisco Giants.
Maeda, who made his third start of the season, seemingly improved as the outing wore on. Having walked just one batter through 12 innings over his first two starts, Maeda walked two batters in the first inning on Sunday.
The start time lent to shadows being present through the first couple off innings, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes had a negative impact on Maeda. “The shadows are tough and ironically, his best stuff was after the shadows were gone. He didn’t have his best stuff early and his fastball command wasn’t where he wanted it to be,” Roberts said.
“Once it became better to see visibly, the breaking ball feel started to come back and so did the fastball location. He was cruising for most of the game.”
Along with the shadows, there was also an adjustment period for Maeda and Yasmani Grandal. Working their first game together, Grandal said his framing of pitches initially lent to some confusion and frustration for the Japanese native.
Grandal showed Maeda video of pitches between innings, and the duo didn’t encounter much trouble for the remainder of the game. Maeda did however, have his scoreless streak snapped at 14.2 innings on a Joe Panik two-out, two-strike solo home run in the third.
No matter, the Dodgers’ third starter went seven innings, which is a season high, and also set a season high with seven strikeouts. “You really don’t know what to expect when you see video of Kenta and how it’s going to translate over here,” Roberts answered when asked if the 28 year old has exceeded expectations.
“I’ve been really cautious with putting a number on expectations, I just want to watch him compete and prepare. If you look at where he’s at after three starts, he has exceeded expectations. He’s throwing the ball as well as anyone right now.”
Roberts added the club is monitoring Maeda’s workload as he makes the transition to pitching more frequently in the Majors. There haven’t been any issues to date, which can be tied to Maeda settling on a strong routine. “Kenta is throwing the ball really well and feels strong,” Roberts said.
“He’s said he feels great after every start. He’s really locked in on a routine.”
