HOUSTON -- A flip of the calendar could only do wonders for Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti, who followed up a stellar May in which he posted a 0.93 ERA in 29 innings en route to being named American League Pitcher of the Month with a terrible June in which he posted a 9.00 ERA in 25 innings and was searching for answers.
Arrighetti appeared to have found those answers, with a hat tip to the Astros’ research and development team and some biomechanics data that helped him identify a small tweak in his delivery that he parlayed into a strong outing in Friday night’s 3-1 loss to the Rays at Daikin Park.
Arrighetti turned in his first quality start since May 28 by holding the Rays to two hits and one run -- a homer by nine-hole hitter Nick Fortes in the sixth inning -- in six innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. He retired 16 of 17 batters he faced after Yandy Díaz began the game with a single.
“I thought he was more aggressive in the zone,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He was not running away from contact. He was really good. There was better tempo, better command. He came in knowing exactly what he needed to and he did a really good job.”
Arrighetti said he had been “getting a little hunched over” in his delivery, and on Friday tried to make more of an emphasis to stay more upright. It resulted in a better arm slot and better shapes on his pitches.
“I can nerd out over it if you really want me to, but the reality is it just helps me load a little bit better, and it helps me control my center and mass down the mound a little bit better,” he said. “There's a lot of guys that we have in R&D and biomechanics that are a lot smarter than I am about it that told me it was probably going to help clean some things up, and I feel like it did.”
Arrighetti threw 46 of 73 pitches for strikes, relying heavily on a fastball (27 pitches) that generated five whiffs from 17 swings and his curveball (16 pitches), which he had been throwing 34 percent of the time entering Friday. He threw five changeups to lefties that generated four swings and one called strike.
“I feel like that was one of my big goals this week in between outings, which was feeling like I was getting the ball where I wanted to more often than not, and my bullpen was really good this week,” he said.
Fortes’ homer gave the Rays a 1-0 lead, but Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez crushed his 27th homer of the season in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. Junior Caminero homered off reliever Steven Okert in the seventh to put Tampa Bay ahead, 2-1, and gave Caminero 10 homers in his past 10 games.
Espada said he wanted Okert, a lefty, to face Jonathan Aranda (lefty), Caminero (righty) and Cedric Mullins (lefty) -- the Rays’ two-, three- and four-hole hitters -- in the seventh despite Arrighetti’s season-low pitch count.
“I feel like with the month I had last month and how good this lineup’s been, I'm sure that there's a lot of factors that go into that,” Arrighetti said. “I'm just glad that I was able to give us a chance for six innings and turn it over with the game in a good spot.”
Astros starting pitchers had posted a 9.85 ERA in the six games prior to Arrighetti’s outing on Friday. Ace Hunter Brown, who will start against June AL Pitcher of the Month Drew Rasmussen on Saturday, is still trying to find his footing after missing two months with a shoulder strain, and Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows remain enigmas.
Arrighetti putting his June swoon behind him would help the rotation going forward.
“This game, it's ebb and flow,” he said. “Had a great month, had a terrible month, and now start this month off better. Obviously, we play for 162 games over the span of, what, like 6 1/2 months? I mean, there's gonna be good ones, there's gonna be some bad ones. I feel like I’m just trying to keep my head about me and keep working on the things that need to be worked on and try to take that into the game every time I go out there.”