The Los Angeles Dodgers, propelled by another excellent start from Kenta Maeda, returned to the win column on Wednesday against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The club pulled out a 4-2 victory, receiving RBI singles from Logan Forsythe, Matt Kemp and Chris Taylor.
Maeda, fresh off the paternity list, logged 5.2 innings pitched in the contest while yielding only one run on four hits with nine strikeouts compared to one walk. The right-hander earned his sixth win of the season while additionally lowering his ERA to 3.13 in the process.
For Maeda, it was also his fourth consecutive outing in which he allowed two runs or less while tallying exactly nine strikeouts. He credited his resurgent changeup after the game for the recent stretch of success he’s enjoyed, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Last year, I wasn’t able to use it at all, but because I’ve been able to use it this year, it’s made my other pitches better, too,” said Maeda (6-5).
Maeda, who throws his changeup with a splitter grip, improvised the pitch in Spring Training and found immediate success against right-handers after initially only deploying it to the opposite split last season.
He has utilized his changeup more frequently as of late and the results back up the pitch’s effectiveness. Dating back to his start on May 17 against the Miami Marlins, Maeda has compiled a 1.97 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 50.1 innings pitched with 61 strikeouts to 19 walks.
During that span, the 30-year-old has limited opposing batters to a meager .179/.261/.274 slash line while yielding only two home runs to boot. Many called for Maeda to be moved to the bullpen after a rough stretch at the beginning of the season. He has firmly cemented himself in the starting rotation after this recent stretch though.
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