So far for Kenta Maeda, career firsts with the Los Angeles Dodgers have gone off without a hitch. In his first time facing Major League hitters, Maeda threw two scoreless innings and had two strikeouts against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Japanese native erased any notion of that being beginner’s luck as he followed it with one solid outing after another in Cactus League play. Overall, Maeda finished the spring with a 2.35 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and 20 strikeouts in six starts (23 innings pitched).
He flashed the pinpoint accuracy and pitch movement that carried him through eight successful seasons with the Hiroshima Carp, and had batterymate Yasmani Grandal comparing Maeda to Zack Greinke.
Then all Maeda did in his regular-season debut was throw six shutout innings against the San Diego Padres, plus slug the first home run of his career. The homer was also the Dodgers’ first on the season.
Maeda took the ball on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, and worked through six more scoreless innings despite not having his best repertoire of pitches. Now he faces the daunting task of pitching in hitter-friendly Coors Field on Saturday night.
While the Colorado Rockies’ home ballpark has a reputation that precedes itself, Maeda isn’t treating the start any differently, per ESPN’s Doug Padilla
“I was told that it is very similar to Arizona and the balls fly a lot more than the usual fields, but what I am planning to do is to pitch the way that I do and just locate pitches,” Maeda said.
In further comparing the above-sea-level-environment to that of Arizona, Maeda believes he made necessary adjustments:
“I was able to make adjustments and I pitched well,” said Maeda, who had a 2.35 ERA in six Cactus League starts this spring. “To be honest, it didn’t feel too different from pitching in other fields.”
Through three starts, Maeda is 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA, 2.93 FIP and 0.95 WHIP. He’s also averaging 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Maeda’s string of consecutive scoreless innings to begin his career was snapped at 14.2, and trailed only Bob Welch (15.1 innings; 1978) and Dave Stewart (18.1; 1978-81) for most in Dodgers franchise history.
