MINNEAPOLIS -- Early this week, Alex Cobb spent an afternoon on the mound at Oriole Park, anxious to see live hitters again and eager to put one of the worst starts of his career behind him. In eschewing his regular bullpen for a simulated game that day, Cobb hoped to streamline what has been a disjointed second season in Baltimore, already interrupted by two trips to the injured list.
Consider the work ongoing. Cobb is still searching after the long ball plagued him again in Friday’s 6-1 loss to the Twins, when Minnesota’s lineup hit the right-hander hard for the second time in a span of seven days. After matching a career high with three home runs allowed in the start on Saturday that spearheaded the session, Cobb set a new mark by surrendering four over four innings at Target Field, including three consecutive in his first inning back on the rubber.
“I have major adjustments to make right now,” Cobb said. “It's an awful feeling walking off the mound having your team in that big of a hole that early."
That the outing actually lowered his ERA to 10.95 speaks to how unusual a season it has been for Cobb, who has seen his routine torpedoed by various ailments. First came the right groin strain that delayed his season debut by a week, then the back spasms that sidelined him for 16 days before last weekend’s clunker. He reiterated Friday that his lumbar issues were “good enough” to pitch through, while calling his struggles “directly related” to the two-plus weeks off they required.
“I was feeling in good form before I left the mound for that long,” Cobb said. “That stinks, and it's something that you have to fight through the physical struggles of being able to do what you want to do, and also work on your mechanics and your mind-set of what you're trying to do on the mound. So there's a lot going on there, but before all this, I was feeling pretty happy with where I was at.”
Now, Cobb said, the baseball is defying him like never before.
“I've always been able to look at a spot on the plate and throw it to that spot, and now the ball's just not being driven to those spots very well,” he said. “They're coming back over the plate, thigh high, waist high, and I've always been able to drive that ball down to the knees and onto the corners, and I'm not doing that right now."
He has also never before had so much trouble keeping the ball in the park. An eight-year veteran, Cobb entered 2019 with a career 0.9 HR/9 across more than 850 Major League innings. This season, he has watched that number spike to 6.57 in a small sample. The nine homers he has allowed are tied for the most among American League pitchers, with the Angels’ Trevor Cahill.
Friday night, they came quickly and from familiar sources. Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron notched solo shots in succession off Cobb in the first, and Max Kepler added a projected 438-foot solo homer in the fourth. That provided all the runs winning pitcher Martin Perez would need over the course of six strong innings, though Trey Mancini used a three-hit night to stretch his AL-leading total to 38**.**
Cruz lined another homer to the opposite field against Gabriel Ynoa in the fifth; he and Rosario both have four in four games against Orioles pitching this season. Cruz and Cron also took Cobb deep last weekend at Camden Yards, when the Twins totaled 11 homers during a three-game sweep. The Orioles have lost 10 straight to Minnesota dating back to last season.
“I just think he’s frustrated,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Cobb. “He’s not where he wants to be, so it’s frustrating for him. But we believe in him, and there is still a long way to go.”