Mariners ‘trust’ Matt Brash in high leverage situations despite rough Sunday

BOSTON – Matt Brash is going to keep pitching in leverage situations for the Mariners. He just might not be doing it quite as much as he’s done in the first 40 games of the season.

But manager Scott Servais was very clear that any decline in leverage situations wasn’t due to any recent negative results on the mound, including Brash’s minor implosion vs. the Tigers in Sunday’s 5-3 loss in Detroit.

“It’s about his usage and how much we’ve went to him already this season,” he said before Monday’s series opener at Fenway Park.

Brash has pitched in 22 of the Mariners’ 40 games this season, which ties him with Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase for most relief appearances in MLB. Of those 22 appearances, 14 were considered high leverage. Only Griffin Jax has pitched in more high-leverage situations with 16.

“We have put Matt Brash in more high leverage situations than almost anyone in baseball,” Servais said. “We trust him. This guy’s got wipeout stuff. That’s why his strikeout rate is as high as it is. He can strike out the best hitters in the game. He’s just got to control the count and get ahead in the count to do that. Yesterday wasn’t his day.”

Brash entered the seventh inning of a tie game with one out and runners on first and second. He got Javier Baez to fly out to right for the second out of the inning. With slugging left Spencer Torkelson coming to the plate and light-hitting Nick Maton on deck, Brash said he pitched around Torkelson, a former No. 1 overall pick, not wanting to give him anything he could drive.

Maton came into the game with a .153/.246/.315 slash line and 37 strikeouts in 126 plate appearances.

“I got the matchup I wanted,” Brash said. “All I had to do was land a breaking ball.”

Instead, he landed it on the ankle of Maton to force across the go-ahead run. Clearly irritated, Brash walked Andy Ibanez on four pitches to force in another run, which ended his outing.

“There have been times where getting that last out in the inning has been difficult,” Brash said.

Servais has labeled the role that Brash currently occupies as the “pivot” or “dirty pivot” due to his stuff. He will usually turn to the young right-hander with runners on base and a strikeout or a ground ball is needed. In past years, J.T. Chargois and Casey Sadler have flourished in that role. The Mariners believe that Brash’s ridiculous strikeout rate – 40% of the batters he’s faced – makes him a good fit for that role. He’s also allowed just one homer this season.

Servais isn’t concerned about Brash’s 5.00 ERA, which they believe is a product of a few bad outings. Other metrics like xFIP (expected fielding independent pitching), which is essentially ERA without taking into account defense is 2.41. They point to Brash’s anomalous .513 batting average allowed on balls in play (BAPIP) vs. his actual batting average allowed of .284. The large discrepancy speaks to an inordinate amount of bad luck for Brash. Per Statcast metrics, he’s among the tops in MLB in generating swings and misses, avoiding barrels from hitters, fastball velocity and curveball spin.

“We still love him and love his stuff,” Servais said. “He’s still going to pitch in those high leverage moments. But we’ve also used him a lot because we played in a lot of close games so we need to be cognizant of that. And maybe it’s time to let him catch his breath a little bit.”

The Red Sox series offers an opportunity for that. Boston’s lineup is loaded with left-handed hitters so Servais expects to use his two lefties – Tayler Saucedo and Gabe Speier – in those high leverage situations more often.

“For Matt, it’s all about throwing strikes and when it gets away from him a little bit,” Servais said. “His fastball has been awesome. You see the velocity up as high as it’s ever been. But his best pitch is the breaking pitch. It’s the slider and his ability to land that early in counts really sets everything else up. But with his ability to slow it down or his ability to make quicker adjustment, he’s still a very young pitcher.”

Indeed, Brash debuted last season and was converted to the bullpen.

“Sometimes we lose sight of that because he had such a good run for us at the end of the year,” Servais said. “He’s really young. And he’s going to go through stretches in his career where it’s hard. It just doesn’t happen easy. Our catchers understand it. Sometimes it’s making an extra trip to the mound. He’s a huge part of our bullpen. It really sets everything up for us.”