Cobb enjoying success with improved curveball

ST. PETERSBURG -- Alex Cobb struck out six while notching his first win of the season Saturday night against the Indians. The 25-year-old left-hander is now 10-2 with a 1.92 ERA when striking out five or more batters; he is 5-9 with a 5.35 ERA when striking out four or fewer batters.

It's reasonable to expect Cobb to continue chalking up the strikeouts due to his improved curve.

"He has a really good curveball," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Cobb said his curveball has been especially good since the end of the 2012 season.

"I started throwing a new curveball last year, and it's starting to really come around right now and at the end of last year," Cobb said. "I think that's more of a consistent feel I'm going to have for it game in and game out the rest of the year hopefully. Throughout Spring Training, it was there for me every game. Hopefully that's a sign of things to come the rest of the season."