PHOENIX -- Matt Garza continues to get comfortable with his changeup and turned in arguably his best Spring Training start Tuesday in the Brewers' 5-4 win over the Dodgers.
After not striking out a batter in his first four starts, Garza fanned two in the first inning and finished with five. The 33-year-old right-hander gave up hits to two of the first three batters faced, before settling down and retiring seven in a row.
"I thought he pitched really well," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of Garza, who gave up one run in 3 2/3 innings. "I thought the pitch quality was good, sequences were good. To me, there was one hard hit ball and he faced 18 hitters. It was a good outing, very good outing."
Garza relied on his overpowering fastball during the early stages of his career, but is trying to break away from that habit and has devoted time to working on his changeup this spring.
"I threw it quite a bit," Garza said of his changeup. "I threw it six to eight times. I'm trying to learn, trying to break that old habit and get out of just rearing back and letting it go. It's still a work in progress, but I'm almost done."
The changeup has always been in Garza's arsenal, but he often underutilized the pitch because he didn't need it.
Garza walked two and gave up six hits and spent most of the afternoon pitching out of the stretch, but for the most part was able to navigate his way out of trouble.
The Dodgers put multiple runners on base in three of four frames, but were unable to break through until Hyun-Jin Ryu chased Garza and put the Dodgers on the board with an RBI single in the fourth.
Admittedly, Garza didn't have his best stuff, but the increased usage of his changeup will provide him with a bit more margin for error this season -- something he was able to take advantage of against the Dodgers.
"I kind of threw everything," Garza said. "I threw quite a bit of changeups, a lot of sliders, curveball was really good. Fastball location was a little off, but when I'm able to locate my offspeed pitches, it kind of lets me get away with a little bit more. So cut down on the foul balls and I'll still be out there with a lot of pitches. It was a good sign."
William Boor