WASHINGTON -- Dating back to Cactus League play, Emmet Sheehan has been working with diminished velocity. But the Dodgers' right-hander showed that he may be able to overcome losing some speed on his fastball.
Sheehan picked up his first win of the season in Friday's 13-6 victory over the Nats at Nationals Park, allowing four runs across 5 2/3 innings behind a dominant effort from the Dodgers' bats. He averaged just 93.8 mph on his fastball, down from 95.6 mph last season. He maintains that he feels healthy, and that mechanical issues are behind his fluctuating velocity.
The radar readings remain a concern, but they don't tell the entire story of Sheehan's outing. The Dodgers far prefer the way it ended over how it started -- and the grit that Sheehan showed to get through it.
"I think today was a step in the right direction," manager Dave Roberts said. "I think that we talked about [how] he needs to give us length, and he did that today, touching the sixth."
Sheehan put the Dodgers in a deficit early, serving up a leadoff double to James Wood, who moved over to third base when Luis García Jr. grounded out. After another groundout, Sheehan was an out away from stranding Wood, but he walked Brady House before surrendering a three-run blast to CJ Abrams.
From there, Sheehan became much more effective. He gave up one more run on an Abrams RBI single in the third inning, but that was the end of the damage against him. In sum, Sheehan struck out two, walked three and gave up seven hits, landing 61 of his 98 pitches for strikes.
"Obviously, that’s not how you want to start a game at all," Sheehan said. "But I think after that, Will [Smith] did a great job of keeping them off balance with the pitches he was calling. And yeah, we got through it.”
Sheehan threw only four pitches that registered 95 mph or harder, his fewest such pitches in 30 career appearances. His previous low was nine, set in his season debut on March 27. Interestingly, two of the hardest pitches Sheehan threw on Friday came in the first inning, while the other two came in the sixth. That followed a larger trend in which Sheehan's velocity dipped, then ticked back up as his outing went on.
Sheehan's average fastball velocity by inning:
First inning: 94.5 mph
Second inning: 93.1 mph
Third inning: 92.6 mph
Fourth inning: 93.5 mph
Fifth inning: 93.5 mph
Sixth inning: 94.5 mph
That pattern may suggest that Sheehan's seeing results from his mechanical tweaks. Before the start, Roberts said the righty has been working on the direction of his throw in order to clean up his delivery.
“I think it was just being a little quicker through my delivery, trying to get some rhythm back," Sheehan said. "I felt a few things later in the outing that helped for sure. Hopefully I can carry that into the next one.”
Last year was somewhat of a breakout for Sheehan, who returned from Tommy John surgery in mid-June and went 6-3 with a 2.82 ERA in 15 appearances (12 starts). The Dodgers envision him being a key part of the rotation this season, as long as he's still able to give the team the length it needs from its starters while he's working through his mechanics.
"Emmet has enough weapons to pitch at 92 and 94 [mph], he really does," Roberts said. "I hope he's not just chasing velocity, because the command, the sequencing, all that [matters] as well."