After rough outing, Farquhar bounces right back

ARLINGTON -- Danny Farquhar's career as a Major League closer spans all of two weeks, but the 5-foot-9 right-hander survived one of the first critical tests when he rebounded from his first blown save with a perfect ninth inning in Friday's 3-1 win over the Rangers.

Farquhar is 6-for-7 in save opportunities going into Saturday's game. While his rookie season stats are an unimposing 0-1 with a 5.03 ERA in 29 outings, he has a 2.84 ERA with just two runs, six hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings since replacing Tom Wilhelmsen as the closer on Aug. 3.

Four of those hits and both runs came in the one rough outing when the Rays rallied to beat Farquhar on Wednesday. Otherwise, the 26-year-old has been golden for the past month, with a 1.15 ERA, two runs allowed, eight hits, four walks and 25 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings in 12 outings since July 21.

"He bounced back perfect," said acting manager Robby Thompson. "[Pitching coach Carl Willis] had a talk with him after the blown save. I talked to him the other day in Tampa and he was great. I said to him, 'Sometimes you need that to see how you're going to bounce back.' He showed us it didn't bother him. Short memory and he was back on the hill and did a great job."

Farquhar continues to say that while he is new as the Mariners' closer, he has saved games for five years in the Minors as well as in a tough environment in the Venezuelan Winter League and he is just following the same routine now.

"It's always good after a rough outing just to get back on the mound, get back on that horse, and get after it again," he said.