TEMPE, Ariz. -- With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, veteran right-hander Alex Cobb didn’t have the luxury of easing into Cactus League action in his Giants debut Sunday afternoon.
The Angels, his former club, certainly did him no favors, deploying reigning American League MVP winner Shohei Ohtani as their leadoff hitter in a 6-1 win for San Francisco.
Cobb issued a pair of walks to his old rotation mate, but he managed to strand the two-way sensation both times en route to tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings. The 34-year-old allowed only one hit while striking out three and walking three.
“Really good pace,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “What a competitor out there. It was very poised, very focused. He filled up the strike zone. His sinker was working really well. All of his pitches were executed in the zone.”
Cobb, who signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Giants in November, said he spent part of his offseason training with Ohtani in Arizona, but he got to see a different side of the Japanese star’s skill set while facing him Sunday.
“I got to train with him a little bit this offseason and see all the work he’s put in, mostly on the pitching side, which is incredible,” Cobb said. “I think you obviously get a different perspective pitching against him and seeing his plate discipline and picking when he’s aggressive. It’s a dangerous animal.”
Cobb won’t have to worry about seeing much of Ohtani moving forward -- “another reason I went to the NL,” he joked -- but he is a bit concerned about getting enough game reps to prepare for the start of the regular season. As the Giants’ projected fifth starter, Cobb is scheduled to appear in only one more Cactus League game this spring, though he’s expecting to continue to build up his pitch count in a simulated game next month at Oracle Park.
“It’s tough,” Cobb said. “It’s tough on everybody. The only thing fair about it is that everybody is dealing with it. I normally wouldn’t have gone out for that next up in the fourth but I only have one more of these games. I’ve already thrown two sims and then I’ll throw another sim later on just to try to get a little bit more of that game atmosphere.”
Cobb is coming off a resurgent season with the Angels, where he logged a 3.76 ERA over 93 1/3 innings in 2021. Injuries have limited him to only 158 innings over the last three years, but Kapler said he believes the Giants will be able to help Cobb remain healthy and durable in San Francisco.
“We can get him to where he needs to be,” Kapler said. “We feel a lot of confidence that with Alex, with our medical staff, with our pitching coaches, we are in a good position to help him take down as many innings as possible, which we think will be more than he’s had the last couple years.”
Dubón flashes power, glove
Mauricio Dubón, who is out of options and competing for a utility role this spring, delivered an encouraging performance Sunday, crushing a two-run home run off left-hander Patrick Sandoval in the third and making a nice diving play at second base in the fourth.
“The mentality is different, noticeably different,” Kapler said of Dubón. “It’s calmer and more sure of himself. More comfortable in his own skin.”
Quick hits
• Relievers José Álvarez, Zack Littell and Camilo Doval combined to work 2 2/3 scoreless innings, though Kapler noted that Doval needs to work on holding runners and being quicker to the plate.
• Right-hander Sean Hjelle gave up one run on one hit over two innings in his second appearance of the spring.